Private: CWA Dagger Shortlists Announced
The 2022 shortlists for the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger awards, which honour the very best in the crime-writing genre, have been announced. Created in 1955, the world-famous CWA Daggers are the oldest awards in the genre ...
Private: CWA Appoints New Champions for Libraries
The Crime Writers’ Association has appointed new Libraries Champions based in England, Scotland and Wales. The trio take over from Ruth Dudley Edwards, the CWA’s very first Libraries Champion. The new champions are crime writers Priscilla Masters...
Private: New CWA Anthology Published 22 February
The Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) has released a new collection of crime stories written by its members. Music of the Night, edited by Martin Edwards, invited CWA authors to submit short stories on the theme of music. An array of award-winnin...
Two New Daggers Announced
The CWA is proud to announce the addition of two new categories for our Daggers. The Twisted Dagger award is aimed at psychological thrillers set in any period, as well as suspense thrillers and domestic noir. The Twisted Dagger will c...
Private: New CWA Anthology Celebrates Vintage Crime
A new short story anthology with a difference celebrates short stories from the archives of the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA). Vintage Crime gathers gems from the mid 1950s, when the CWA began, until the twenty-first century. The new compilat...
New Blood for ‘Oscars of the Crime Genre’
The crime writing genre’s oldest and most famous award has had an injection of new blood thanks to a new sponsor. Author Karen Baugh Menuhin is sponsoring its highest accolade, the CWA Diamond Dagger. The very first CWA awards ceremony was hoste...
New Blood for CWA Daggers with Awards’ Sponsorship
The CWA Daggers – the genre’s oldest and most famous awards - has announced two new sponsors. The 2025 Dagger Awards sees the editorial consultancy Fiction Feedback sponsor the Emerging Author Dagger, and Morgen Witzel sponsor the Historical D...
Chapters
Chapters We know that our members are based all around the world and we have established regional chapters to help our members connect with other writers. There are also speciality chapters for non-fiction and neurodiverse authors. If there is an...
The secrets of successful Crime Writing with internationally acclaimed Crime Author
Pauline Rowson is the author of twenty crime novels set against the backdrop of the sea on the South Coast of England. Fourteen of these feature the popular rugged and flawed Portsmouth copper, Inspector Andy Horton. Her new 1950 set crime novel, DE...
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...

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