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The Crime Writers Association is a writers' association in the UK. Founded by John Creasey in 1953, it is currently chaired by Robert Richardson and claims 450 members.
Membership is open to any author who has had one crime novel produced by a bona fide publisher (or at the discretion of the committee), and it enables writers to contact each other and organises social events. It also supports writing groups, festivals and literary events with authors.
Daggers
It is probably best-known however for the prestigious prizes that it awards (known as Daggers).
From 1955 to 1959 it awarded the Crossed Red Herring Award for the best crime novel of the year, after which the award was renamed the Gold Dagger. Now known as The Duncan Lawrie Dagger, the prize carries a prize of £20,000, the largest award for crime fiction in the world.
Other Daggers include:
- Duncan Lawrie International Dagger, for the best crime novel translated into English, with £5000 going to the author and £1000 to the translator.
- The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger: The dagger and £2000 prize are awarded for the best adventure/thriller novel in the vein of James Bond. Sponsored by by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd.
- The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction: The dagger and prize of £2000 are awarded every even-numbered year.
- The CWA New Blood Dagger: Awarded in memory of CWA founder John Creasey, this dagger for first books by previously unpublished writers is sponsored by BBC Audiobooks and carries a prize of £1000. This award was previously known as the John Creasy Memorial Dagger.
- The CWA Dagger in the Library: This Dagger, sponsored by Random House and worth £1500, is awarded to "the author of crime fiction whose work is currently giving the greatest enjoyment to readers"; authors are nominated by UK libraries and Readers' Groups and judged by a panel of librarians.
- The Debut Dagger: sponsored by Orion, and open to anyone who has not yet had a novel published commercially. The winner will receive a £500 cash prize plus a night for two at the Waldorf Hilton, London for the prize-giving at the Dagger Awards Dinner on 29 June. All these shortlisted entrants will receive a generous selection of crime novels and professional assessments of their entries, and will also be invited to the Dagger Awards Dinner.
- Cartier Diamond Dagger: an award for lifetime achievement, awarded in 2006 to the American novelist, Elmore Leonard.
Other awards
- The Ellis Peters Historical Award: sponsored by the estate of Ellis Peters and her publishers, Headline and the Time Warner Book Group, carries a prize of £3000.
- The CWA Short Story Award: this prize of £1500, is sponsored by the membership of the CWA.
External link
See also
- The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time (a 1990 CWA publication)
- Mystery Writers of America
"Crime Writers' Association"