Readers and authors alike often wonder how the CWA Dagger nominees and winners are selected. The following should answer some of those questions, as well as giving a comprehensive list of all the winners since they were instituted.
Only British publishers can submit entries for the awards, and the submissions must have been published in the English language in the United Kingdom within a limited period of time. The number of awards, as well as their names, have varied over the years. In part this was due to sponsorship: in the mid 1990s the names of four of the Daggers (Gold, Silver, Non Fiction, and Short Story) were expanded to include that of its sponsor, The Macallan, distillers of one of Britain's top whiskies.
Since publishers can submit the same book for all relevant awards, it is theoretically possible for a historical crime thriller by a debuting author to win the Duncan Lawrie, Creasey, Historical and Steel Daggers.
This summary was compiled by Adrian Muller, a UK based freelance journalist and events organiser specialising in crime fiction.
The Cartier Diamond Dagger
The Duncan Lawrie Daggers
The Gold and Silver Daggers
The John Creasey Memorial Award
The Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller
The Short Story Dagger
The Ellis Peters Historical Dagger
The Debut Dagger Award
The CWA Last Laugh Dagger
The Dagger in the Library
Follow any of the above links to move to a table listing award winners.
You can see full details of the winners and shortlisted authors in recent years by clicking on the appropriate year: 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2008 2007.
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The Cartier Diamond Dagger lifetime achievement award As the name suggests, this coveted award is sponsored by Cartier, who have done so since its inception in 1986. The CWA committee selects writers nominated by the membership. Nominees have to meet two essential criteria: first, their careers must be marked by sustained excellence, and second, they must have made a significant contribution to crime fiction published in the English language, whether originally or in translation. The award is made purely on merit without reference to age, gender or nationality. | ||||
| 2008 | Sue Grafton | 1996 | H.R.F.Keating | |
| 2007 | John Harvey | 1995 | Reginald Hill | |
| 2006 | Elmore Leonard | 1994 | Michael Gilbert | |
| 2005 | Ian Rankin | 1993 | Ellis Peters | |
| 2004 | Lawrence Block | 1992 | Leslie Charteris | |
| 2003 | Robert Barnard | 1991 | Ruth Rendell | |
| 2002 | Sara Paretsky | 1990 | Julian Symons | |
| 2001 | Lionel Davidson | 1989 | Dick Francis | |
| 2000 | Peter Lovesey | 1988 | John le Carré | |
| 1999 | Margaret Yorke | 1987 | P D James | |
| 1998 | Ed McBain | 1986 | Eric Ambler | |
| 1997 | Colin Dexter | |||
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The Duncan Lawrie Dagger This award for the year's best crime novel written in English is named for its sponsor, Duncan Lawrie Private Bank. It was introduced in 2006 and replaces the gold and silver daggers. The prize consists of an ornamental dagger and £20,000 (about $39,000/€26,500). | ||
| 2007 | The Broken Shore (Quercus) | Peter Temple |
| 2006 | Raven Black (Pan Macmillan) | Ann Cleeves |
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The Duncan Lawrie International Dagger This award for the year's best crime novel translated into English from another language is named for its sponsor, Duncan Lawrie Private Bank. It was introduced in 2006 and is a new award (although translated works were previously eligible for the gold and silver daggers). The prize consists of an ornamental dagger and £5,000 for the winning author and £1,000 for the translator (about $9,800/€6,600 and $1,950/€1,300 respectively). | ||
| 2007 | Wash this Blood Clean from my Hand (Harvill Secker) | Fred Vargas, translated by Siân Reynolds |
| 2006 | The Three Evangelists (The Harvill Press) | Fred Vargas, translated by Siân Reynolds |
| The CWA Gold and Silver Daggers Initially titled the Crossed Red Herrings Award, this was first presented in 1955 to Winston Graham for 'The Little Walls'. The award was renamed the Gold Dagger in 1960. The Silver Dagger goes to the runner up and came into being in 1969. Between 1995 and 2002, the awards were sponsored by The Macallan, distillers of the finest Single Highland Malt Whisky, and named The Macallan Gold and Silver Daggers. This award was replaced in 2006 by the Duncan Lawrie dagger and the Duncan Lawrie International dagger. The judges for these awards are all reviewers for British publications, the reason being that their work will have required them to have read already most of the 150 or more titles that are submitted each year. Gold and Silver Dagger winners received ornamental daggers and £3,000 and £2,000 respectively (approximately $5,900/€4,000 and $3,900/€2,650). | ||||
| The CWA Gold Dagger for Fiction | The CWA Silver Dagger for Fiction | |||
| 2005 | Silence of the Grave (The Harvill Press) | Arnaldur Indridason (Translator: Bernard Scudder) |
Deadly Web (Headline) | Barbara Nadel |
| 2004 | Blacklist (Hamish Hamilton) | Sara Paretsky | Flesh and Blood (Heinemann) | John Harvey |
| 2003 | Fox Evil (Macmillan) | Minette Walters | Half-Broken Things (Hodder & Stoughton) | Morag Joss |
The MACALLAN Gold Dagger for fiction |
The MACALLAN Silver Dagger for fiction | |||
| 2002 | The Athenian Murders (Abacus) | Jose Carlos Samoza | The Final Country (HarperCollins) | James Crumley |
| 2001 | Sidetracked (The Harvill Press) | Henning Mankell | Forty Words for Sorrow (HarperCollins) | Giles Blunt |
| 2000 | Motherless Brooklyn (Faber & Faber) | Jonathan Lethem | Friends in High Places (Heinneman) | Donna Leon |
| 1999 | A Small Death in Lisbon (HarperCollins) | Robert Wilson | Vienna Blood (Cape) | Adrian Mathews |
| 1998 | Sunset Limited (Orion) | James Lee Burke | Manchester Slingback (Picador) | Nicholas Blincoe |
| 1997 | Black And Blue (Orion) | Ian Rankin | Three to get Deadly (Viking) | Janet Evanovich |
| 1996 | Popcorn | Ben Elton | Bloodhounds (LittleBrown) | Peter Lovesey |
| 1995 | The Mermaids Singing | Val McDermid | The Summons (LittleBrown) | Peter Lovesey |
| The CWA Gold Dagger for Fiction | The CWA Silver Dagger for Fiction | |||
| 1994 | The Scold's Bridle | Minette Walters | Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow | Peter Hoeg |
| 1993 | Cruel and Unusual | Patricia Cornwell | Fatlands | Sarah Dunant |
| 1992 | The Way Through the Woods | Colin Dexter | Bucket Nut | Liza Cody |
| 1991 | King Solomon's Carpet | Barbara Vine | Deep Sleep | Frances Fyfield |
| 1990 | Bones and Silence | Reginald Hill | The Late Candidate | Mike Phillips |
| 1989 | The Wench is Dead | Colin Dexter | The Shadow Run | Desmond Lowden |
| 1988 | Ratking | Michael Dibdin | Toxic Shock | Sara Paretsky |
| 1987 | A Fatal Inversion | Barbara Vine | Presumed Innocent | Scott Turow |
| 1986 | Live Flesh | Ruth Rendell | A Taste for Death | PD James |
| 1985 | Monkey Puzzle | Paula Gosling | Last Seen Alive | Dorothy Simpson |
| 1984 | The Twelfth Juror | B.M.Gill | The Tree of Hands | Ruth Rendell |
| 1983 | Accidental Crimes | John Hutton | The Papers of Tony Veitch | William McIlvanney |
| 1982 | The False Inspector Dew | Peter Lovesey | Ritual Murder | ST Haymon |
| 1981 | Gorky Park | Martin Cruz Smith | The Dead of Jericho | Colin Dexter |
| 1980 | The Murder of the Maharajah | H.R.F.Keating | Monk's Hood | Ellis Peters |
| 1979 | Whip Hand | Dick Francis | Service of all the Dead | Colin Dexter |
| 1978 | The Chelsea Murders | Lionel Davidson | Waxwork | Peter Lovesey |
| 1977 | The Honourable Schoolboy | John le Carre | Laidlaw | William McIlvanney |
| 1976 | A Demon in my View | Ruth Rendell | Rogue Eagle | James McClure |
| 1975 | The Seven per cent solution | Nicholas Meyer | The Black Tower | PD James |
| 1974 | Other Paths to Glory | Anthony Price | The Grosvenor Square Goodbye | Francis Clifford |
| 1973 | The Defection of A.J.Lewinter | Robert Littell | A Coffin for Pandora | Gwendoline Butler |
| 1972 | The Levanter | Eric Ambler | The Rainbird Pattern | Victor Canning |
| 1971 | The Steam Pig | James McClure | Shroud for a Nightingale | PD James |
| 1970 | Young Man I Think You're Dying | Joan Fleming | The Labyrinth Makers | Anthony Price |
| 1969 | A Pride of Heroes | Peter Dickinson | Another Way of Dying | Francis Clifford |
| 1968 | Skin Deep (Glass-sided Ants Nest) | Peter Dickinson | ||
| 1967 | Murder Against the Grain | Emma Lathen | ||
| 1966 | A Long Way to Shiloh | Lionel Davidson | ||
| 1965 | The Far Side of the Dollar | Ross Macdonald | ||
| 1964 | The Perfect Murder | H.R.F.Keating | ||
| 1963 | The Spy Who Came In From The Cold | John le Carre | ||
| 1962 | When I Grow Rich | Joan Fleming | ||
| 1961 | The Spoilt Kill | Mary Kelly | ||
| 1960 | The Night of Wenceslas | Lionel Davidson | ||
| Crossed Red Herring Awards | ||||
| 1959 | Passage of Arms | Eric Ambler | ||
| 1958 | Someone from the Past | Margot Bennett | ||
| 1957 | The Colour of Murder | Julian Symons | ||
| 1956 | The Second Man | Edward Grierson | ||
| 1955 | The Little Walls | Winston Graham | ||
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The CWA New Blood Dagger The New Blood Dagger is awarded in memory of CWA founder John Creasey, for first books by previously unpublished writers. This dagger is sponsored from 2003 by BBC Audiobooks. Publisher Chivers Press was the sponsor from its introduction in 1973 till 2002. This award, previously The John Creasey Memorial Award, is voted on by past winners, and the prize consists of an ornamental dagger and £1,000 (about $1,950/€1,300). | ||
| 2007 | Sharp Objects (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) | Gillian Flynn |
| 2006 | Still Life (Hodder Headline) | Louise Penny |
| 2005 | Running Hot (Maia Press) | Dreda Say Mitchell |
| 2004 | Amagansett (Fourth Estate) | Mark Mills |
| 2003 | Mission Flats (Bantam) | William Landay |
| 2002 | The Cutting Room (Canongate) | Louise Welsh |
| 2001 | The Earthquake Bird (Picador) | Susanna Jones |
| 2000 | God is a Bullet (Macmillan) | Boston Teran |
| 1999 | Lie in the Dark (No Exit) | Dan Fesperman |
| 1998 | Garnet Hill | Denise Mina |
| 1997 | Body Politic (Hodder & Stoughton) | Paul Johnston |
| 1996 | no award | |
| 1995 | One for the Money | Janet Evanovich |
| 1995 | A Grave Talent (HarperCollins) | Laurie R King |
| 1994 | Big Town | Doug J Swanson |
| 1993 | no award | |
| 1992 | The Ice House (Macmillan) | Minette Walters |
| 1991 | Devil in a Blue Dress (Serpent's Tale) | Walter Mosley |
| 1990 | Postmortem (LittleBrown) | Patricia Cornwell |
| 1989 | A Real Shot in the Arm | Annette Roome |
| 1988 | Death's Bright Angel (Constable) | Janet Neel |
| 1987 | Dark Apostle | Denis Kilcommons |
| 1986 | Tinplate | Neville Steed |
| 1985 | The Latimer Mercy (Golancz) | Robert Richardson |
| 1984 | A Very Private Enterprise | Elizabeth Ironside |
| 1983 | The Night the Gods Smiled (Collins) | Eric Wright |
| 1983 | The Ariadne Clue | Carol Clemeau |
| 1982 | Caroline Miniscule (Golancz) | Andrew Taylor |
| 1981 | The Ludi Victor | James Leigh |
| 1980 | Dupe (Collins) | Liza Cody |
| 1979 | A Running Duck (US: Fair Game) (Macmillan) | Paula Gosling |
| 1978 | Saturday of Glory (Collins) | David Serafin |
| 1977 | The Judas Pair (Collins) | Jonathan Gash |
| 1976 | Death of a Thin Skinned Animal | Patrick Alexander |
| 1975 | Acid Drop | Sara George |
| 1974 | The Big Fix (Deutsch) | Roger L Simon |
| 1973 | Don't Point That Thing at Me | Kyril Bonfiglioli |
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The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction In 1978, the CWA instituted the Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction award, and for the two years 1978-1979 also awarded The CWA Silver Dagger for Non-Fiction to the runner-up. Between 1995 and 2002, this award has also been sponsored by The Macallan and renamed The MACALLAN Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction. The award is currently sponsored by the membership of the CWA and is (since 2006) awarded evey other year, in even-numbered years. It is chosen by a panel of judges with a publishing and/or legal background. The winner receives a cheque for £2,000 (about $3,900/€2,650), as well as an ornamental dagger. | ||
| The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction | ||
| 2006 | The Dagenham Murder (The Borough of Barking and Dagenham) | Linda Rhodes, Lee Shelden and Kathryn Abnett |
| 2005 | On the Run ( Hutchinson) | Gregg and Gina Hill |
| 2004 jointly |
Cosa Nostra ( Hodder & Stoughton) The Italian Boy (Jonathan Cape) |
John Dickie Sarah Wise |
| 2003 | Pointing from the Grave (Hamish Hamilton) | Samantha Weinberg |
| The Macallan Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction | ||
| 2002 | Dead Man's Wages (Picador) | Lillian Pizzichini |
| 2001 | The Infiltrators (Michael Joseph) | Philip Etienne and Martin Maynard with Tony Thompson |
| 2000 | Mr Blue (No Exit Press) | Edward Bunker |
| 1999 | The Case of Stephen Lawrence (Viking) | Brian Cathcart |
| 1998 | Cries Unheard (Macmillan) | Gitta Sereny |
| 1997 | The Jigsaw Man (Bantam) | Paul Britton |
| 1996 | The Gunpowder Plot | Antonia Fraser |
| 1995 | Dead Not Buried | Martin Beales |
| The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction | ||
| 1994 | Criminal Shadows | David Canter |
| 1993 | Murder in the Heart | Alexandra Artley |
| 1992 | The Reckoning | by Charles Nicholl |
| 1991 | Giordano Bruno and the Embassy Affair | John Bossy |
| 1990 | The Passing of Starr Faithfull | Jonathan Goodman |
| 1989 | A Gathering of Saints | Robert Lindsay |
| 1988 | The Secret Lives of Trebitsch Lincoln | Bernard Wasserstein |
| 1987 | Perfect Murder | Bernard Taylor/Stephen Knight |
| 1986 | Evil Angels | John Bryson |
| 1985 | Killing for Company | Brian Masters |
| 1984 | In God's Name | David Yallop |
| 1983 | Double Dealer | Peter Watson |
| 1982 | Earth to Earth | John Cornwell |
| 1981 | Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number | Jacobo Timerman |
| 1980 | Conspiracy | Anthony Summers |
| 1979 | Rachman | Shirley Green |
| 1978 | The Mystery of the Princes | Audrey Williamson |
| The CWA Silver Dagger for Non-Fiction | ||
| 1979 | Fraud | Jon Connell/Douglas Sutherland |
| 1978 | The Capture of the Black Panther | Harry Hawkes |
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The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for best thriller This award was introduced in 2002 and is sponsored by Ian Fleming (Glidrose) Publications Ltd to celebrate the best of contemporary thriller writing. The judges (agents, authors, booksellers and reviewers), choose the winner who receives £2,000 (about $3,900/€2,650) and a steel dagger. | ||
| 2007 | Sharp Objects (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) | Gillian Flynn |
| 2006 | Mr Clarinet (Michael Joseph) | Nick Stone |
| 2005 | Brandenburg (Orion) | Henry Porter |
| 2004 | Garden of Beasts (Hodder & Stoughton) | Jeffery Deaver |
| 2003 | The Small Boat of Great Sorrows (Transworld Bantam) | Dan Fesperman |
| 2002 | The Sirius Crossing (Faber and Faber) | John Creed |
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The CWA Short Story Award This award was introduced in 1995 as the Short Story Dagger and was sponsored by The MACALLAN between 1995 and 2002. It is now sponsored by the membership of the CWA. In 2006 it was renamed the Short Story Award. The recipient, who is awarded £1,500 (roughly $2,950/€2,000) and a gold pin of the CWA's crossed daggers emblem, is selected by judges who are agents, authors and editors. | ||
| 2007 | Needle Match, in the Best British Mysteries (Allison & Busby) | Peter Lovesey |
| 2006 | Sins of Scarlet, in ID: Crimes of Identity (Comma Press) | Robert Barnard |
| 2005 | No Flies on Frank, in Sherlock Magazine (Atlas Publishing) | Danuta Reah |
| 2004 | The Weekender, in Twisted (Hodder & Stoughton) | Jeffrey Deaver |
| 2003 | Closer to the Flame | Jerry Sykes |
| 2002 | Martha Grace, in Tart Noir anthology (Pan Macmillan) | Stella Duffy |
| 2001 | Prussian Snowdrops, in Crimewave 4 (TTA Press) | Marion Arnott |
| 2000 | Helena and the Babies, in Fresh Blood 3 (The Do-Not Press) | Denise Mina |
| 1999 | Taking Care of Frank, in Crimewave 2 (TTA Press) | Antony Mann |
| 1998 | Roots, in Mean Time (The Do Not Press) | Jerry Sykes |
| 1997 | On the Psychiatrist's Couch, in WHYDUNNIT, The 1997 CWA Anthology (Severn House) | Reginald Hill |
| 1996 | Herbert in Motion, in Perfectly Criminal | Ian Rankin |
| 1995 | Funny Story, in No Alibi - the best new crime fiction (Ringpull, Manchester) | Larry Beinhart |
| Ellis Peters Historical Award Started in 1999 as the Historical Dagger, in memory of Ellis Peters, author of the medieval Brother Cadfael series, this award is sponsored by the Estate of Ellis Peters and her publishers - Headline and Little Brown. The award, £3,000 (about $5,900/€4,000) and an ornamental dagger is presented to a novel with a crime theme and a historical background of any period up to the 1960s. The judging panel is made up out of the most recent winner, as well as reviewers and historians. In 2006 this was renamed the Ellis Peters Award, and is now awarded in the autumn. | ||
| 2007 | Mistress of the Art of Death (Bantam Press) | Ariana Franklin |
| 2006 | Red Sky Lament (Orion) | Edward Wright |
| 2005 | Dark Fire (Macmillan) | CJ Sansom |
| 2004 | The Damascened Blade (Constable & Robinson) | Barbara Cleverly |
| 2003 | The American Boy (Flamingo) | Andrew Taylor |
| 2002 | Fingersmith (Virago) | Sarah Waters |
| 2001 | The Office Of The Dead (HarperCollins) | Andrew Taylor |
| 2000 | Absent Friends (Virago) | Gillian Linscott |
| 1999 | Two for the Lions (Century) | Lindsey Davis |
| Debut Dagger This is the CWA's annual new-writing competition, which is open to anyone in the world who writes in the English language, but whose work has not been published before. Most previous winners, as well as some nominees (such as Stephen Booth and Louise Penny) have subsequently had their manuscripts published. The entrants submit an opening chapter and synopsis: the winning entry is selected by agents and publishers, and its author now receives £500 (about $980/€660) although until 2005 the prize was £250 (about $490/€330). It began life in 1998 as The CWA New Writers Competition and is now sponsored by leading publishers Orion. | ||
| 2007 | The Sweetness At the Bottom of the Pie | Alan Bradley |
| 2006 | Imp: Being the Lost Notebooks of Rufus Wilmot Griswold In the Matter of the Death of Edgar Allan Poe | Otis Twelve (D V Wesselmann) |
| 2005 | The Woman Before Me | Ruth Dugdall |
| 2004 | The Doll Makers | Ellen Grubb |
| 2003 | The Cuckoo | Kirsty Evans |
| 2002 | Sugarmilk Falls | Ilona van Mil |
| 2001 | Clea's Moon (Orion) | Edward Wright |
| 2000 | A Flowery Death | Simon Levack |
| 1999 | Blood Junction (Orion) | Caroline Carver (won as Caroline Seed) |
| 1998 | Stone Baby (HarperCollins) | Joolz Denby |
| Last Laugh Daggers First presented in 1988, and formerly known as The Punch Award, this award for most humorous crime novel is currently without a sponsor. | ||
| 1996 | Two For The Dough | Janet Evanovich |
| 1995 | Sunburn | Laurence Shame |
| 1994 | The Villian of the Earth | Simon Shaw |
| 1993 | The Mamur Zapt and The Spoils of Egypt | Michael Pearce |
| 1992 | Native Tongue | Carl Hiaasen |
| 1991 | Angels in Arms | Mike Ripley |
| 1990 | Killer Cinderella | Simon Shaw |
| 1989 | Angel Touch | Mike Ripley |
| 1988 | Death in a Distant Land | Nancy Livingston |
| Dagger in the Library (formerly the Golden Handcuffs) is awarded to the (living) author who has given most pleasure to readers. It is nominated by UK libraries and judged by a panel of librarians. New sponsorship from the Random House Group has enabled this award to be reinstated after a break of some years. The prize consists of an ornamental dagger and £1500 (about $2,800/€2,200). | |
| 2007 | Stuart MacBride |
| 2006 | Jim Kelly |
| 2005 | Jake Arnott |
| 2004 | Alexander McCall Smith |
| 2003 | Stephen Booth |
| 2002 | Peter Robinson |
| 1997 - 2001 | in abeyance |
| 1996 | Marian Babson |
| 1995 | Lindsey Davis |
| 1994 | Robert Barnard |
Copyright © 2001-2008 The Crime Writers' Association
Updated by Roger Cornwell from information supplied by the CWA committee.
Last updated: 24th February 2008