But before I disclose the names of the authors who received the ornamental dagger and a £20,000 prize tied to it, let me jot down some ” behind the scenes” facts leading to the biggest award of the planet for new crime fiction writing.

Colin Cotterill, winner of the 2009 CWA Dagger in the Library, with CWA Chair Margaret Murphy. Photo: Fiona Davies

It all started in the year 1955 when The Crime Writer’s Association (CWA) founded The Crossed Red Herring Award to celebrate the best crime novel of the year.

In 1960 the award was renamed The CWA Gold Dagger, and it’s sister, The CWA Silver Dagger, for her part, was introduced in 1970.

The next change was in 2006 when The Duncan Lawrie Private Bank became sponsor of the award, therefore giving it their own name.

They sponsored as well the newly-formed Duncan Lawrie International Dagger which celebrates  the best crime novel translated into English.

A complete chronological listing of each awards and winners is available on the CWA website .

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So, without further ado, let’s drill down the recipients  of the CWA Dagger Awards:

Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award - Best Crime Novel Of The Year

Prize: £20,000 sponsored by Duncan Lawrie Private Bank.

2006 Ann Cleeves Raven Black – The Shetland Quartet Series (Macmillan).
“Ann Cleeves, the winner of the first Duncan Lawrie Dagger, offered “a huge thank you to Duncan Lawrie”, adding:

Ann Cleeves - 2006 Winner

“This prize will make a difference. It’ll save me from being so frantically busy that writing is done on slow Virgin trains and crammed into weekends”.

2007 Peter Temple – The Broken Shore (Quercus)

Peter Temple - 2007 Winner / Photo: Candy Bryce

“This is a well written crime novel with excellent characterisation mingled with a subtle exploration of contemporary Australian landscape and mores. This is a first class read with a sympathetic engrossing police protagonist.”

2008 Frances Fyfield – Blood From Stone – published by Sphere (Little, Brown)

Frances Fyfield

“A subtle and elegantly written exploration of contemporary themes.

Blood From Stone

The mystery behind the death of a troublesome female barrister is explored in ways that illuminate the dark corners of life in Britain today, while detailed attention to costume and dress as aspects of identity resonates with insights into the fabric of society.”

Many other CWA Dagger Awards are presented during the prize-giving ceremonies, and I can tell you right away that I will have a very exciting wishlist for my next visit to the library from the following winning titles:
The CWA International Dagger - Best Crime Novel Translated into English

Prize: £5000 going to the author and £1000 to the translator.

2006 Fred Vargas – The Three Evangelists (Harvill), translated by Siân Reynolds
2007 Fred Vargas – Wash this Blood Clean from my Hand (Harvill Secker), translated by Siân Reynolds
2008 Dominique Manotti – Lorraine Connection – EuroCrime (Arcadia Books), translated by Amanda Hopkinson and Ros Schwartz

2009 Fred Vargas - The first in the series of Adamsberg novels, The Chalk Circle Man, translated by Siân Reynolds  ( 3 times in the last 4 years! )

Fred Vargas - 2009 Winner

The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger

Prize:  £2000 for the best adventure/thriller novel in the vein of James Bond.

2006 Nick Stone – Mr Clarinet (Penguin)
2007 Gillian Flynn – Sharp Objects (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
2008 Tom Rob Smith – Child 44 – Simon & Schuster
2009 Coming soon…

The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction

Prize:  £2000 -  awarded this and every even-numbered year.

2006 Linda Rhodes, Lee Shelden and Kathryn Abnett – The Dagenham Murder (The Borough of Barking and Dagenham)

2008 Kester Aspden – Nationality: Wog – The Hounding of David Oluwale – Jonathan Cape (Random House)

The CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger

Prize: £1000 – awarded in memory of CWA founder John Creasey, for first books by previously unpublished writers.

2006 Louise Penny – Still Life (Headline)
2007 Gillian Flynn – Sharp Objects (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
2008 Matt Rees- The Bethlehem Murders – Atlantic Books

The CWA Dagger in the Library

Prize: £1500 – awarded to “the author of crime fiction whose work is currently giving the greatest enjoyment to readers”

2006 Jim Kelly
2007 Stuart MacBride
2008 Craig Russell
2009 Colin Cotterill

The CWA Debut Dagger

Prize: £500 plus night’s stay for two in a top London Hotel after the prize ceremony dinner.

2006 Otis Twelve (pseudonym of US writer D V Wesselmann) with Imp: Being the Lost Notebooks of Rufus Wilmot Griswold In the Matter of the Death of Edgar Allan Poe.
2007 lan Bradley ( from British Columbia in Canada ) The Sweetness At the Bottom of the Pie.
2008 Amer Anwar( from West London ) Western Fringes.
2009 Catherine O’Keefe – The Pathologist

…..Boy oh boy….what a long title for Otis Twelve’s book! Are you aware of any prize awarded to the longest title given to a novel Mairiuna?

Left-to-right: Colin Cotterill (2009 CWA Dagger in the Library), Catherine O’Keefe (2009 CWA Debut Dagger) Margaret Murphy, Chair of CWA and Sean Chercover,(2009 CWA Short Story Dagger) Photo: Fiona Davies

Does the above not prove that the CWA Dagger Awards are the longest established literary awards in the UK and are internationally recognised as a mark of excellence and achievement ?

I sincerely do think so!

And you know what Mairiuna?

Upon signing off this post, I just discovered there is also The CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger !!! It celebrates sustained excellence in the genre of crime writing.

Sue Grafton was the winner in 2008 and “previous winners include John Harvey, Elmore Leonard, Ian Rankin, Lawrence Block, Sara Paretsky, Colin Dexter, Ed McBain, Reginald Hill, Ellis Peters, Leslie Charteris, Ruth Rendell, Dick Francis, John Le Carré and PD James”.

Cartier Diamond Dagger Award Photo: David Stuart Davies

Well…well …well…anymore out there of these prolific Dagger Awards? 

The “Daggers” name and Crossed Daggers logo ® are registered Trade Marks of the Crime Writers’ Association.

PS: Main source of information for this blog post  is The Crime Writer Association website and we thank them for their help.

Cheers.

Talk soon.

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