Countdown to the Daggers on 22 October
Free tickets are available from Thursday 15 Oct for the virtual awards ceremony of the 2020 Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Daggers, which honour the very best in crime writing. The oldest awards in the genre, the CWA Daggers have been synonymous ...
CWA Announces new Debut Dagger Sponsor
The Crime Writers’ Association has announced a new sponsor for its annual international writing competition for unpublished writers. The CWA Debut Dagger is to be sponsored by ProWritingAid, a platform that operates as a grammar checker, style edi...
Private: Trust your gut: how a Debut Dagger longlisting led to a publishing deal
People often ask me where the initial idea for “Trust Me, I’m Dead” came from, and I talk about an article I read many years ago where one snippet caught my eye, and then stuck in my brain. It was a small thing, about a man who’d left behind ...
National Crime Reading Month 2018 Underway
National Crime Reading Month, an initiative promoted by the CWA, is now underway, with libraries, bookshops and writing festivals throughout the country hosting events and talks this month with authors speaking about their books and the world of crim...
The Board
The Board The Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) is a company limited by guarantee and registered in England and Wales (no. 3495776). It’s a non-campaigning, non-sectarian body. Our primary objective is to promote the prestige and appreciation ...
Emerging Author Dagger
Emerging Author Dagger The Emerging Author Dagger (formerly the Debut Dagger) opens 1 October and the deadline for entry is Friday 28 February at 6pm GMT. Please return here after 1 October for the full rules and terms of entry. The internationa...
Debut Dagger
Emerging Author Dagger (Debut Dagger) Announcements Congratulations to our 2024 Shortlist Authors! See below for details. Winner: Dagger Awards Dinner, evening of Thursday 4 July, Leonardo City Hotel, London. All announcements will also appe...
Private: Latest Tips for Winning the Debut Dagger
CWA Coordinator and Debuts maestro Dea Parkin has some top tips for Debut Dagger entrants: You’re going over your Debut Dagger entry in the final days before the deadline. What might you consider revising to make it stand out and shine? Ens...
Opening Windows, by John Kennedy
A certain writer, arguably lauded for the wrong things but at the same time often underrated, once said something about writing behind closed doors and rewriting with the window open. Well, for me, the Debut Dagger competition opened that window. Get...
Staying Accountable
Even writers don’t feel like writing all of the time. When you’re part-way through your book and the rest of it stretches out ahead of you like an insurmountable task, the temptation to do something else instead can become strong, and if you’ve...
Join the CWA
Become part of a thriving community of successful crime writers with invaluable support, expertise and marketing opportunities for all our members.
