The CWA Gold Dagger is an award given annually by the

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors' organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its "Dagger" awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. ...

of the United Kingdom since 1960 for the best

crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a profession ...

of the year. From 1955 to 1959, the organization named their top honor as the Crossed Red Herring Award. From 1995 to 2002 the award acquired sponsorship from Macallan and was known as the Macallan Gold Dagger. In 2006, because of new sponsorship from the Duncan Lawrie Bank, the award was officially renamed as the Duncan Lawrie Dagger, and gained a prize fund of £20,000. It was the biggest crime-fiction award in the world in monetary terms. In 2008, Duncan Lawrie Bank withdrew its sponsorship of the awards. As a result, the top prize is again called the Gold Dagger without a monetary award. From 1969 to 2005, a Silver Dagger was awarded to the runner-up. When Duncan Lawrie acquired sponsorship, this award was dropped. After the sponsorship was withdrawn, this award was not reinstated. Since its inception, the award has been given to 57 writers.

Ruth Rendell Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, (; 17 February 1930 – 2 May 2015) was an English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries. Rendell is best known for creating Chief Inspector Wexford.The Oxford Companion ...

has won the award a record four times, including two awards for the novels ''

A Fatal Inversion ''A Fatal Inversion'' is a 1987 novel by Ruth Rendell, written under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. The novel won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger in that year and, in 1987, was also shortlisted for the Dagger of Daggers, a special awar ...

'' and ''

King Solomon's Carpet ''King Solomon's Carpet'' (1991) is a novel by Barbara Vine, pseudonym of Ruth Rendell. It is about the London Underground and the people frequenting it. Vine's novel is inhabited by ordinary passengers, tube aficionados, pickpockets, buskers ...

'', published under the pseudonym Barbara Vine; this makes her the only writer who has won the award under different names. Rendell and

James Lee Burke James Lee Burke (born December 5, 1936) is an American author, best known for his Dave Robicheaux series. He has won Edgar Awards for his novels ''Black Cherry Blues'' (1990), ''Cimarron Rose'' (1998), and ''Flags on the Bayou'' (2024). He has ...

were nominated a record five times, and they were surpassed only by

Mick Herron Mick Herron (born 11 July 1963) is a British Mystery fiction, mystery and Thriller (genre), thriller novelist. He is the author of the ''Slough House (novel series), Slough House'' series, early novels of which have been adapted into the ''Slow ...

with six.

Abir Mukherjee Abir Mukherjee (born circa 1974) is a British-Indian author best known for his crime novels. He wrote the Wyndham and Banerjee series set in the British Raj era in India. Personal life Mukherjee's parents moved from Calcutta, India to the Unit ...

is the most nominated author in this category without a single win (4 nominations). The Crime Writers' Association also awards the

CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction The CWA ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction also called the ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction is a British literary award established in 1978 by the Crime Writers' Association, who have awarded the CWA Gold Dagger for fiction since 1955. It is sp ...

and several other "Dagger" awards.

Winners

Winners and, where known, shortlisted titles for each year:

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Multiple awards and nominations

Gold Dagger

The following individuals received two or more Gold Dagger awards: The following individuals received two or more Gold Dagger nominations:

Silver Dagger

The following individuals received two or more Silver Dagger awards:

Gold and Silver Daggers wins

The following individuals received both Gold and Silver Dagger awards: *

Colin Dexter Norman Colin Dexter (29 September 1930 – 21 March 2017) was an English crime writer known for his ''Inspector Morse'' series of novels, which were written between 1975 and 1999 and adapted as an ITV (TV network), ITV television series, ''Inspec ...

* James H. McClure *

Sara Paretsky Sara Paretsky (born June 8, 1947) is an American author of detective fiction, best known for her novels focused on the protagonist V. I. Warshawski. Life and career Paretsky was born in Ames, Iowa. Her father was a microbiologist and moved the ...

Anthony Price Alan Anthony Price (16 August 1928 – 30 May 2019) was an English author of espionage thrillers. Early life Price was born in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, England. He attended The King's School, Canterbury and served in the British Army fr ...

Peter Lovesey Peter Harmer Lovesey (10 September 1936 – 10 April 2025), also known by his pen name Peter Lear, was a British writer of Historical mystery, historical and Detective fiction, contemporary detective novels and short stories. His best-known ser ...

Records

Ngaio Marsh Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh ( ; 23 April 1895 – 18 February 1982) was a New Zealand mystery writer, writer. As a crime writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Marsh is known as one of the Detective fiction#Golden Age detective novel ...

was the first writer to receive more than one nomination. *

Ross Macdonald Ross Macdonald was the main pseudonym used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar (; December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983). He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featur ...

was the first writer to receive two consecutive nominations *

Peter Dickinson Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson OBE FRSL (16 December 1927 – 16 December 2015) was an English author and poet, best known for children's books and detective stories. Dickinson won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association ...

is the first writer to receive two Gold Daggers. He and

are the only ones to win in this category two years in a row. * Joan Fleming is the first female to win two awards. *

is the first writer to win both the Gold and Silver Daggers. * P.D. James and

win a record three Silver Daggers. James also won the most Silver Daggers as the author who never won a Gold Dagger. *

is the only writer to win both two Silver and two Gold Daggers. * Ruth Rendell has won the Gold Dagger a record four times. She is also the only one to win the award under different names. *

have the most nominations with 6. * Mick Herron has the most consecutive nominations (3). *

has the most nominations without a win (4).

References

External links

The Gold Dagger at Crime Writers' Association official webpage
{{Gold Dagger Award Crime Writers' Association awards 1955 establishments in the United Kingdom Awards established in 1955 Mystery and detective fiction awards English-language literary awards