The Crime Writers’ Association

The Entry Process

The Entry Process There are four kinds of Dagger, differentiated by how they are nominated. See below for an explanation of the different entry processes, and who may nominate for each Dagger. Please do not hesitate to contact the Dagger Liaison Or...


Crime #2 at Havering Literary Festival

Isabelle Grey has published four novels in a crime series set in Essex and featuring DI Grace Fisher – Good Girls Don’t Die, Shot Through The Heart and The Special Girls. The fourth book, Wrong Way Home, a Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month, is...


CWA’s Margery Allingham Short Story Competition to Continue

The Margery Allingham Society has agreed with the Crime Writers’ Association that the popular short mystery competition will run for at least another five years, until 2024. The Society, set up to honour and promote the writings of the great Golden...


Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition

The Margery Allingham Short Mystery CompetitionThe competition is open to all - both published and unpublished authors from all over the world. The competition is for short stories of up to 3,500 words, written in English. All that we ask is that the...


No Better Place to Be in May than CrimeFest

CrimeFest. One of the UK's most loved crime-writing festivals. CrimeFest is a convention for people who like to read an occasional crime novel as well as for die-hard fanatics. Drawing top crime novelists, readers, editors, publishers and reviewers ...


Bookshop of the Month – September 2021: Cogito Books

This month, author and co-Booksellers Champion, Vaseem Khan, writes about Cogito Books in Hexham, run by Claire Grint. Cogito Books is based in the rural market town of Hexham, in the beautiful county of Northumberland, home to castles and a nearb...


Dagger for Crime Fiction in Translation

Dagger for Crime Fiction in Translation Sponsored in honour of Dolores Jakubowski. This award is for crime novels (defined by the broadest definition to include thrillers, suspense novels and spy fiction) as long as the book was not originally wr...


Debut Dagger

Emerging Author Dagger (Debut Dagger) Announcements Congratulations to our 2024 Longlist Authors! See below for details. Shortlist: CrimeFest, Bristol on Friday 10 May, early evening Winner: Dagger Awards Dinner, evening of Thursday 4 Jul...


Historical Dagger

Historical Dagger This award is for the best historical crime novel, first published in the UK in English during the judging period, set in any period up to 50 years prior to the year in which the award will be made. For novels that involve passages...


Gold Dagger

Gold Dagger This award is for the best crime novel by an author of any nationality, originally written in English and first published in the UK during the judging period. The broadest definition of the crime novel applies. Eligible books include thr...


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