Cause UK specialise in supporting ethical businesses, good causes, festivals and the arts with award winning public relations services.
At Cause UK, we were thrilled once more to handle the media announcement for the annual CWA Dagger Awards. The ceremony took place last night (at the same time as…
At Cause UK, we were thrilled once more to handle the media announcement for the annual CWA Dagger Awards.
The ceremony took place last night (at the same time as the UK elections!) in London.
The story ran in print this morning, with stories in the Scotsman, as well as online in the Independent, Evening Standard, AOL.com, MSN, Yahoo, as well as regional titles such as Bournemouth Echo, Guernsey Press, The Irish News, and Express and Star.
It even achieved international coverage with The Korea Herald and attracted a lot of interest from Japanese media in Tokyo (thanks to the shortlisting of author, Kotaro Isaka).
According to media monitoring sources, the story so far has 1.51M estimated views.
This builds on the national profile achieved earlier in the year, when we announced the winners of the CWA Diamond Dagger awards (Lynda La Plante and James Lee Burke). This story featured in The Guardian, Daily Mail, Daily Express and across UK media, with a staggering 159 pieces of coverage, with 1.79 estimated views.
The Express is also due to run a feature interview in its Saturday edition with CWA Diamond Dagger winner, James Lee Burke, which we set up earlier in the year.
We’ve worked for several years now with the CWA, helping significantly raise the media profile of its annual awards in that time.
Full release of the winners below.
Una Mannion, Jordan Harper, Jo Callaghan, and Anthony Horowitz receive CWA Dagger Award.
The 2024 winners of the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger Awards, which honour the very best in the crime-writing genre, have been announced.
Created in 1955, the world-famous CWA Daggers are the oldest and most respected awards in the genre and have been synonymous with quality crime writing for over half a century.
The awards were announced [11pm, 4 July] at a CWA gala dinner at the Leonardo Royal Hotel in London.
The Gold Dagger, which is awarded for the best crime novel of the year, went to Una Mannion for her second novel, Tell Me What I Am. The Irish-American author has won numerous prizes for her poetry and short stories.
Mannion beat stalwarts of the genre shortlisted for Gold, including Dennis Lehane and Mick Herron. Past winners of the coveted Gold Dagger, include Ian Rankin, John le Carré, Reginald Hill, and Ruth Rendell.
The judging panel praised it for being ‘haunting and beautifully written’ saying the character-driven thriller ‘expertly examines the boundaries of love, power and control and will stay with you long after you turn the last page.’
The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd, showcases the thriller of the year. This year it went to Jordan Harper, with his second thriller, Everybody Knows.
Judges said Harper’s novel was ‘brilliantly constructed and fast-paced’ taking readers into the ‘heart of the darkness of Hollywood, guided by a sensationally atypical protagonist.’
Maxim Jakubowski, Chair of the Daggers Committee, said: “Yet another remarkable year of crime writing in which our impartial judges have uncovered a crop of wonderful books. In a year in which many of our ‘big beasts’ had new books, it’s refreshing to see so many new names and talents winning. And a momentous occasion for independent publishers who have swooped on the majority of the awards and, in particular, Faber & Faber who have achieved a rare double of Gold and Steel Daggers.”
The much-anticipated ILP John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger highlights the best debut novels. 2024’s recipient is Jo Callaghan with her BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick, In the Blink of an Eye, praised for being ‘fresh, original and gripping.’
The Historical Dagger goes to Jake Lamar for Viper’s Dream, a daring look at the jazz-scene of mid-century Harlem and the dangerous underbelly of its drug trade. Judges praised its skilled plotting and ‘elegantly spare prose’ creating a ‘pungent sense of the jazz age’.
The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction was awarded to Nicholas Shakespeare’s Ian Fleming: The Complete Man, praised as a ‘panoramic biography of the creator of the most charismatic 20th century hero’. Judges found it a ‘deeply felt and meticulous portrait’ that adroitly shows how Bond emerged from Fleming’s own life and career.
The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger was awarded to Maud Ventura’s My Husband, translated by Emma Ramadan, which was a sensation in France, likened to Patricia Highsmith and Gone Girl. Judges praised its ‘sharp twist in the tail’.
The CWA Daggers are one of the few high-profile awards that honour the short story. This year the accolade goes to Sanjida Kay for The Divide in The Book of Bristol, edited by Joe Melia and Heather Marks. Judges said it was a ‘tale of social division, loneliness, and how our desire for connection can make us vulnerable, with a bittersweet conclusion.’
The Dagger in the Library nominees are voted by librarians and library users, chosen for the author’s body of work and support of libraries, and was awarded to Anthony Horowitz.
The CWA judging panel said: “Renowned for Foyle’s War and Midsomer Murders on the screen, Anthony’s books are triumphs too; the Alex Rider series, his James Bond, and his Sherlock Holmes novels. Now the author has surpassed himself with standalone mysteries and the endearing, inventive Hawthorne, and Horowitz series.”
The Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger, which celebrates publishers and imprints demonstrating excellence and diversity in crime writing, goes to Pushkin Vertigo (Pushkin Press).
The CWA Diamond Dagger, awarded to an author whose crime-writing career has been marked by sustained excellence, is announced in early spring and in 2024 it was jointly awarded to Lynda La Plante and James Lee Burke.
The Daggers also recognise individuals whose contributions to the crime genre deserve special merit. The Red Herring Award dates back to 1959, and have been awarded to over 40 recipients. This year it goes to Jean Briggs and Dea Parkin. Darren Wills also received a Red Herring award, which was presented to him privately earlier in the year.
The awards were co-hosted by the Sunday Times bestselling author of Truly Darkly Deeply, Victoria Selman, and the barrister and bestselling author, Imran Mahmood, whose debut You Don’t Know Me was adapted by the BBC.
Guest speaker on the night was the New York Times and Sunday Times number one bestselling author who has been published worldwide in over 25 languages, Lisa Jewell.
The Winners in Full:
GOLD DAGGER
Una Mannion Tell me What I Am, Faber & Faber
IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER
Jordan Harper Everybody Knows, Faber & Faber
ILP JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER
Jo Callaghan In The Blink of An Eye, Simon & Schuster UK
HISTORICAL DAGGER
Jake Lamar Viper’s Dream, No Exit Press
CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER
Maud Ventura My Husband, translated by Emma Ramadan, Hutchinson Heinemann
ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION
Nicholas Shakespeare Ian Fleming: The Complete Man, Vintage
SHORT STORY DAGGER
Sanjida Kay The Divide from The Book of Bristol edited by Joe Melia and Heather Marks, Comma Press
DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY
Anthony Horowitz
PUBLISHERS’ DAGGER
Pushkin Press
ENDS
For further media info please contact Ann Chadwick, ann@causeuk.com M: 07534 892715.
Notes to Editors
To see the full shortlists for 2024: CWA Dagger Awards Shortlists Announced | Cause UK
The longlists are available on the CWA website as well as via its Facebook, Twitter #CWADaggers and YouTube channel.
CWA Dagger Judging Panels
The judges, who have been deliberating on the submissions from publishers include leading authors, bloggers, newspaper reviewers, academics, and media professionals.
You can view the judging panel for each category on the CWA website: The Daggers — The Crime Writers’ Association (thecwa.co.uk)
Dagger Sponsors
ALCS – Sponsors of the Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction
The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) is a not-for-profit organisation started by writers for the benefit of all types of writers. Owned by its members, ALCS collects money due for secondary uses of writers’ work. It is designed to support authors and their creativity; ensure they receive fair payment and see their rights are respected. It promotes and teaches the principles of copyright and campaigns for a fair deal. It represents over 100,000 members, and since 1977 has paid around £500 million to writers.
Ian Fleming Publications Ltd – Sponsors of the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
Ian Fleming Publications Ltd is the Fleming family-owned company that looks after the James Bond literary brand, by promoting and making available all of Ian Fleming’s 007 books across the world. They also keep the brand alive through the publication of new stories by authors such as Anthony Horowitz, William Boyd, Jeffery Deaver, Sebastian Faulks, Raymond Benson, John Gardner, Kingsley Amis, Samantha Weinberg, Steve Cole and Charlie Higson. Alongside James Bond publishing, the company also manages the rights for Fleming’s two non-fiction books and his only children’s book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
International Literary Properties (ILP) – Sponsors of the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger
International Literary Properties works with authors, playwrights, managers of literary estates, and individual heirs to help realize the value from book and play-based intellectual property. ILP acquire all or partial rights to literary intellectual property, including books, plays and books of musicals. ILP own, nurture and champion a substantial number of properties, many authored by household names, in genres as diverse as mystery, crime, classic literature, non-fiction, and children’s. Its experienced team works closely with award-winning TV, film, and stage producers across the world.
ProWritingAid – Sponsors of the Debut Dagger
ProWritingAid was created by writers, for writers. Our primary goal is to help new writers get their stories and ideas across in the clearest and most effective way possible. We are passionate about language and believe good stories are intrinsically entwined with the words and phrases used to express them. ProWritingAid will never replace a human editor (our software can’t spot your plot holes!) Rather, our software helps you self-edit to a deeper level so that when you send your manuscript off to a human editor, they can focus on the content of your writing and not spend their time fixing basic writing issues like passive voice or emotion tells.
We are thrilled to sponsor the Debut Dagger competition. ProWritingAid’s primary goal is to help more writers get their stories out into the world, and the Debut Dagger is such an amazing opportunity for new crime writers to get their work in front of people that matter.
Maxim Jakubowski – Sponsor of the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger
The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger is sponsored by former CWA Chair, Maxim Jakubowski, in honour of his wife Dolores Jakubowski, who was a translator and university lecturer but now suffers from Alzheimer’s.
Maxim said: “Dolores is well-known to the crime writing community as she’s been at my side for decades at book launches, parties, Dagger Award dinners and festivals worldwide, where she was always popular and a good friend to many involved in the genre.”
Maxim will sponsor the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger in her honour in perpetuity, beginning this year and continuing after his tenure in the Chair.
About the CWA
The CWA was founded over 70 years ago by John Creasey. Its aim is to support, promote and celebrate this most durable, adaptable, and successful of genres and the authors who write within it. It runs the prestigious CWA Dagger awards, which celebrate the best in crime writing.
A thriving, growing community with a membership encompassing authors of all ages and at all stages of their careers, the CWA is UK-based, yet attracts many members from overseas.
It supports author members (plus literary agents, publishers, bloggers, and editors) with a monthly magazine; a digital monthly newsletter showcasing CWA authors and their books and events that goes to over 12,000 subscribers; and Case Files, a bimonthly ezine highlighting new books by CWA members. www.thecra.co.uk
The CWA also supports the Debuts; as yet unpublished writers, many of whom enter the Debut Dagger competition and the Margery Allingham Short Mystery competition.
The CWA run an annual conference and hold chapter meetings throughout the UK and internationally so members can access face-to-face networking and socialising.
It supports libraries and booksellers, with three Library Champions and Booksellers Champions. It has links with various festivals and many other writers’ organisations such as the Society of Authors.