Crime Fiction Awards

A

The Agatha Awards: A set of awards for mysteries that do not contain explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence, and would not be classified as hard-boiled.

The Anthony Awards: Presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention and named after Anthony Boucher, one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America.

The Arthur Ellis Awards: The best of Canadian crime and mystery writing, presented by the Crime Writers of Canada. The awards were named after Arthur Ellis, Canada’s official hangman.

B

The Barry Awards: Awarded by the editors of the American crime fiction magazine “Deadly Pleasures”. The prize is named after the American critic Barry Gardner.

The Black Orchid Novella Award: Presented by The Wolfe Pack, which celebrates the stories of Nero Wolfe by Rex Stout. This award is for a novella that emphasises the detective skills of the sleuth and doesn’t contain overt sex or violence.

Blóðdropinn: “Drop of Blood” is the Icelandic Crime Associations award for best crime novel of the year. The winning novel becomes Iceland’s candidate for the Glass Key award.

Bloody Scotland: Scotland’s crime writing festival awards. Winners must either be born in Scotland, or have lived there for a considerable amount of time, and their book must be substantially set there.

The Bloody Words Light Mystery Award: An award for light mysteries written by Canadian citizens. Not books with gravitas that make you think, but fun-to-read books that make you smile.

C

The CrimeFest Awards: Crimefest was created following a one-off visit to Bristol in 2006 of the American Left Coast Crime convention. It awards a broad range of prizes including “The Last Laugh”.

D

The Daggers: The CWA Daggers are “the premier literary crime-writing awards in the United Kingdom”. At least that is the claim on their website.

Det Danske Kriminalakademi: The Danish Criminal Academy (DKA) awards include the Harald Mogensen-prisen for the best Danish crime novel of the year.

The Daphne Du Maurier Award: The Kiss of Death Chapter of the Romance Writers of America’s award for romantic suspense. It is named after Daphne du Maurier, the author of “Rebecca”, a suspense novel with romantic and gothic overtones.

The David Award: Awarded by Deadly Ink, a small mystery conference run in “the Garden State” of New Jersey. Conference attendees vote for the best mystery novel.

The Davitt Awards: Presented by the Sisters in Crime in Australia in honour of Ellen Davitt. She was the author of Australia’s first mystery novel, “Force and Fraud”, in 1865. The awards recognise Australia’s female crime writers (apparently the Ned Kelly Awards aren’t so good at that).

The Derringer Awards: The Short Mystery Fiction Society awards the Derringers — named after the pocket pistol — for published stories of less than 20,000 words.

Deutscher Krimi Preis: A German-language prize awarded by the Bochum Crime Archive, a syndicate of scholars, critics and booksellers. With a little effort, you can find those that have been translated into English.

The Dilys Award: Presented by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association to the book which the member booksellers had most enjoyed selling.

E

The Edgars: The Mystery Writers of America Awards claim their awards are “widely acknowledged to be the most prestigious awards in the genre”.

F

The Falcon Award: Awarded by Japanese admirers of Dashiell Hammett to the best hard-boiled mystery novel published in Japan.

G

Los Galardones de la Semana Negra: During Gijón’s “Black Week” festival, several awards are presented for crime fiction including the Hammett Prize for the best detective novel written in Spanish.

Glasnyckeln: Named after the novel, “The Glass Key”, by Dashiell Hammett, this award is given jointly by members of the Crime Writers of Scandinavia to a novel written by a Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian or Swedish author.

Die Glauser-Preise: Awarded at Criminale, a European crime festival, in honour of Friedrich Glauser. Glauser created Sergeant Studer, one of the first detective characters in the German-speaking world.

De Gouden Strop: “The Golden Noose” is the annual award for the best crime novel written in Dutch.

Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière: Founded in 1948, this is the most prestigious award for crime and detective fiction in France. Prizes are awarded for the best French and international crime novels.

H

The Hammett Prize: The International Association of Crime Writers (North American Branch) award for the book that “best represents the conception of literary excellence in crime writing”. Not to be confused with the Semana Negra Hammet Prize (which pretty much does the same thing but in Spanish).

The Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction: The University of Alabama School of Law award is for a published work of fiction that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change.

The Hillerman Prize: Honouring Tony Hillerman, “the dean of Southwestern mysteries”. The award is presented to first novels set in the U.S. Southwest.

Honkaku Misuteri Taishō: Presented by the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan. They honour the best in honkaku (i.e. authentic, orthodox) mystery fiction.

I

The Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year: Celebrating “Emerald Noir” and the best Irish writers.

J

The John Spray Mystery Award: The prize — sponsored by and named after the President of the Mantis Investigation Agency — was awarded until 2020. The book must have been written by a Canadian for readers of age eight to 18.

K

The Konomys Award: Not so much a prize as a review of the state of Japanese mystery fiction. Each year the Japanese publisher Takarajimasha produces Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! (This mystery is amazing!), a guide to the ten best domestic and ten best international crime novels published in Japan.

L

The Left Coast Crime Awards: The convention is held in Western North America, “anywhere from Anchorage to El Paso”. Traditionally, the “Lefty” was given for the best humorous mystery.

M

The Macavity Awards: Named after T.S. Eliot’s “mystery cat”. Members of Mystery Readers International nominate and vote for their favourite mysteries in five different categories.

N

The Ned Kelly Awards: Run by the Australian Crime Writers Association who co-opted the name of the nation’s most infamous villain, bushranger Ned Kelly.

The Ngaio Marsh Awards: Promoting New Zealand’s authors, the award is named after Dame Ngaio Marsh, one of the four Queens of Crime of the “Golden Age of Detective Fiction”.

Nihon Suiri Sakka Kyōkai Shō: Awarded by the Mystery Writers of Japan, an association of authors, critics, translators, illustrators, book designers, and manga artists. The link shows winning novels that are available in English.

P

The Petrona Award: Established to celebrate the work of Maxine Clarke and her online persona and blog “Petrona”. Maxine was passionate about translated crime fiction, particularly that from the Scandinavian countries.

The Pinckley Prizes for Crime Fiction: The Women’s National Book Association of New Orleans established the prizes for women writers in honour of Diana Pinckley, a crime fiction columnist for The New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Il Premio Letterario Franco Fedeli: Created in memory of the journalist Franco Fedeli and organised by the union that represents the Italian Police. The protagonist must be a member of the police.

El Premio RBA de Novela Policiaca: A Spanish award that is the world’s most lucrative crime fiction prize, paying out €125,000.

Le Prix du Polar Européen: The European Crime Fiction Prize is a French award for the best novel by a European author. The jury is composed of police officers, publishing professionals and journalists.

Le Prix Mystère de la Critique: An award by French book critics for the best domestic and foreign novel. It is presented at the “bibliothèque des littératures policières”, a library in Paris dedicated to the conservation of crime fiction.

Le Prix SNCF du Polar: French railway’s thriller awards. “Because a good trip is often accompanied by a good thriller.”

R

Rivertonprisen: The prize, a revolver, is awarded to the best Norwegian work of crime fiction, be that a novel, short story collection, play or original script for film / TV / radio.

S

The Shamus Awards: The Private Eye Writers of America awards for novels and short stories. The protagonist must be a private eye (a private citizen who is paid to investigate crimes).

The Staunch Book Prize: An award for a thriller in which “no woman is beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped or murdered”.

Svenska Deckarakademin: The Swedish Academy of Crime Fiction awards for both the best Swedish and translated crime novels.

T

Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award: Celebrating “excellence, originality, and the very best in crime fiction from British and Irish authors”. The prize is awarded at the Harrogate International Crime Writing Festival.

The Thriller Awards: The International Thriller Writers award is presented every year at “ThrillerFest” (incorporating “CraftFest”, “PitchFest” and “ConsultFest”).

V

Vuoden Johtolanka: The Finish Detective Society’s “Clue of the Year” award.