Red Herring and Special Merit Awards
From its earliest years, right up to the present day, the CWA has benefited enormously from the hard and selfless work of a wide range of people. It’s always been an fundamental part of the CWA’s ethos that contributions of special merit to its activities should be celebrated. From time to time over the past sixty years, therefore, the CWA has recognised valuable work of many different kinds with the Red Herring award.
The Red Herring award dates back to 1959. The first recipients were Roy Vickers and Janet Green, and they have so far had more than forty successors. Although the Red Herring, unlike the CWA Daggers, is not a literary award, many of the recipients have been writers (examples include Allan Prior, Gavin Lyall, and Reginald Hill), while others have included the literary critic F.E. Pardoe and the editor Elizabeth Walter. Each has given generously of their time and expertise, benefiting not only the CWA but the wider crime writing community.