The CWA Dagger Awards 2008

AWARDS DINNER

This year’s CWA Duncan Lawrie Daggers Awards will take place on Thursday 10th July at the Four Seasons Hotel, Park Lane  –  a prestigious venue for  the world’s top crime prize of £20,000. Book early to ensure a place at this glittering event. (The closing date for applications is Thursday 26th June.)

The evening will start with a drinks reception in the Oak & Pine rooms at 6.30 pm, to be followed by Dinner in the Ballroom at 7.45 pm

Our Guest of Honour: Gyles Brandreth

Tickets are £90.00 and here is the application form.

Black tie preferred.

JUDGING STARTS

The closing date has now passed for the 2008 Daggers, the prestigious awards that celebrate the very best in crime and thriller writing. This is the third year with our sponsor The Duncan Lawrie Private Bank. In all there are ten awards in contention. Shortlists will be announced in early June.

Publishers had until 17 April to nominate books for the Duncan Lawrie, International, Steel, Non-Fiction and New Blood Daggers. Any UK publisher could enter books provided that the book is relevant to the appropriate award and was published between June 1 2007 and May 31 2008. (For the biennial Non-Fiction Dagger the earlier date is June 1 2006.) For reference, this link takes you to the competition rules.

Further information may be obtained from the CWA Dagger Liaison Officer, Margaret Murphy, by emailing .

SUE GRAFTON WINS DIAMOND DAGGER

The twenty-third Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in the genre of crime writing, has been awarded to the best-selling American novelist, Sue Grafton. Her Kinsey Millhone alphabet series of PI mystery novels have won numerous awards in her native America. The latest number one best-seller, T is for Trespass, was published in the US in December 2007 and will be out in Macmillan hardback in the UK in April 2008.

On hearing of the award, Ms Grafton said: “News of my being named the 2008 recipient of the CWA's Cartier Diamond Dagger so astonished me that I thought at first it was a practical joke. I'm thrilled with the news and honored at the prospect.”

More – including how to apply for tickets to the awards ceremony – on the Cartier Diamond Dagger page.

OTHER DAGGERS AND AWARDS

Authors in contention for the Dagger in the Library are nominated by UK libraries and Readers' Groups and judged by a panel of librarians.

The Ellis Peters Historical Award carries a prize of £3,000 and is sponsored by the Estate of Ellis Peters. It is awarded in the autumn. The Short Story Dagger is also awarded in the autumn.