Publishers are invited to submit entries for the 2009 CWA Dagger awards. The general rules set out below must be read in conjunction with the more specific rules for each of the individual daggers.
There is no fee for submitting entries. However, it is a condition of entry that all publishers whose books appear on any of the Dagger shortlists agree to pay a contribution towards the CWA’s costs of running the awards - the judging process, publicity and promotion, and in particular organising the awards ceremony.
This step brings our awards into line with similar rules for other literary awards. While publishers and authors clearly benefit from being shortlisted for - and particularly winning - one of our Daggers, the CWA gains no direct benefit even though the cost of organising the Awards imposes a significant burden which has to be met out of the Association's limited resources. The income generated by these charges will not cover the full costs of the Dagger Awards, and the CWA will pay the remainder.
The charges will be as follows:
£500 for each title on the Gold Dagger shortlist
£200 for each title on the International Dagger shortlist
£200 for each title on the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger shortlist
£100 for each title on the Non Fiction Dagger shortlist
£100 for each title on the John Creasey New Blood Dagger shortlist
Entering any title(s) for any of the above Daggers will be taken as complete acceptance of this financial condition by the publisher(s) concerned. Invoices for the appropriate sum(s) will be sent out when the shortlists are announced.
Again, there is no fee for submitting entries. Charges will apply only to titles that are shortlisted.
If you have any queries, please contact Lesley Horton, CWA Chair, email or our Dagger Liaison Officer: Meg Gardiner, email:
Any UK publisher may enter books provided that the book is relevant to the appropriate award and was published between June 1 2008 and May 31 2009. The final closing date is April 17 2009. (Different dates apply for the Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction and the Ellis Peters Historical Award.)
There are separate procedures for entering these daggers which are explained in more detail on the relevant pages. The Cartier Diamond Dagger is awarded by the CWA committee, chosen from those writers nominated by the CWA's membership. Authors in contention for the Library Dagger are nominated by UK libraries and Readers' Groups and judged by a panel of librarians. The Debut Dagger is open to anyone who has not yet had a novel published commercially, and runs from 1st November 2008 to 7th February 2009. Authors can enter either online or by post, via the forms on this website.
The non-fiction dagger is now awarded every other year and will next be in contention in 2010. To qualify for entry books must have been published between 1 June 2008 and 31 May 2010.
The Ellis Peters Historical Award is made in the autumn for books published between September 16 2008 and September 15 2009. The closing date is August 1 2009.
Any UK publisher may enter books provided that the book is relevant to the appropriate award and was published within the specified dates. We must point out that it is unlikely that judges will give serious consideration to books that have not been professionally published by recognised publishing houses. "Vanity" publications and those whose publication has been partly or wholly subsidised by the author, and "Branded" books, in which another person writes for the original author, are unlikely to be considered.
This page has the detailed rules.
Further details, including the full rules and entry forms, may be obtained from the CWA Dagger Liaison Officer, Meg Gardiner, by emailing . Any queries should also be addressed to her.