THE CWA GOLD DAGGER

The Crime Writers' Association first created its award for best crime novel of the year in 1955, under the name of the Crossed Red Herrings Award: the first winner was Winston Graham for The Little Walls. The award was renamed the Gold Dagger in 1960. From 1969 to 2005, a Silver Dagger was also awarded to the runner up.

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.

For the three years 2006 to 2008 the Gold Dagger was renamed the Duncan Lawrie Dagger in honour of its sponsor, the Duncan Lawrie Private Bank.

Up to and including 2005, books in translation were eligible for this prize. In 2006 on, a separate Dagger, The CWA International Dagger was introduced for books in translation, recogniseing the work of the translator as well as that of the original author.

The CWA Gold Dagger

2011: Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter (Macmillan) - Tom Franklin

2010: Blacklands (Transworld) - Belinda Bauer

2009: A Whispered Name (Little, Brown) - William Brodrick

The CWA Duncan Lawrie Gold Dagger

2008: Blood From Stone (Sphere) - Frances Fyfield

2007: The Broken Shore (Quercus) - Peter Temple

2006: Raven Black (Pan Macmillan) - Ann Cleeves

The CWA Gold and Silver Daggers for Fiction

2005 Gold: Silence of the Grave (The Harvill Press) - Arnaldur Indridason (translator: Bernard Scudder)
Silver: Deadly Web (Headline) - Barbara Nadel

2004 Gold: Blacklist (Hamish Hamilton)- Sara Paretsky
Silver: Flesh and Blood (Heinemann)- John Harvey

2003 Gold: Fox Evil (Macmillan) - Minette Walters
Silver: Half-Broken Things (Hodder & Stoughton) - Morag Joss

The Macallan Gold and Silver Daggers for Fiction

2002 Gold: The Athenian Murders (Abacus) - Jose Carlos Samoza
Silver: The Final Country (HarperCollins) - James Crumley

2001 Gold: Sidetracked (The Harvill Press) - Henning Mankell
Silver: Forty Words for Sorrow (HarperCollins) - Giles Blunt

2000 Gold: Motherless Brooklyn (Faber & Faber) - Jonathan Lethem
Silver: Friends in High Places (Heinneman) - Donna Leon

1999 Gold: A Small Death in Lisbon (HarperCollins) - Robert Wilson
Silver: Vienna Blood (Cape) - Adrian Mathews

1998 Gold: Sunset Limited (Orion) - James Lee Burke
Silver: Manchester Slingback (Picador) - Nicholas Blincoe

1997 Gold: Black And Blue (Orion) - Ian Rankin
Silver: Three to get Deadly (Viking) - Janet Evanovich

1996 Gold: Popcorn - Ben Elton
Silver: Bloodhounds (LittleBrown) - Peter Lovesey

1995 Gold: The Mermaids Singing - Val McDermid
Silver: The Summons (LittleBrown) - Peter Lovesey

The CWA Gold and Silver Daggers for Fiction

1994 Gold: The Scold's Bridle - Minette Walters
Silver: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow Peter Hoeg

1993 Gold: Cruel and Unusual - Patricia Cornwell
Silver: Fatlands - Sarah Dunant

1992 Gold: The Way Through the Woods - Colin Dexter
Silver: Bucket Nut - Liza Cody

1991 Gold: King Solomon's Carpet - Barbara Vine
Silver: Deep Sleep - Frances Fyfield

1990 Gold: Bones and Silence - Reginald Hill
Silver: The Late Candidate Mike Phillips

1989 Gold: The Wench is Dead - Colin Dexter
Silver: The Shadow Run - Desmond Lowden

1988 Gold: Ratking - Michael Dibdin
Silver: Toxic Shock Sara Paretsky

1987 Gold: A Fatal Inversion - Barbara Vine
Silver: Presumed Innocent - Scott Turow

1986 Gold: Live Flesh - Ruth Rendell
Silver: A Taste for DeathPD James

1985 Gold: Monkey Puzzle - Paula Gosling
Silver: Last Seen Alive - Dorothy Simpson

1984 Gold: The Twelfth Juror - B.M.Gill
Silver: The Tree of Hands Ruth Rendell

1983 Gold: Accidental Crimes - John Hutton
Silver: The Papers of Tony Veitch - William McIlvanney

1982 Gold: The False Inspector Dew - Peter Lovesey
Silver: Ritual Murder - ST Haymon

1981 Gold: Gorky Park - Martin Cruz Smith
Silver: The Dead of Jericho - Colin Dexter

1980 Gold: The Murder of the Maharajah - H.R.F.Keating
Silver: Monk's Hood - Ellis Peters

1979 Gold: Whip Hand - Dick Francis
Silver: Service of all the Dead - Colin Dexter

1978 Gold: The Chelsea Murders - Lionel Davidson
Silver: Waxwork - Peter Lovesey

1977 Gold: The Honourable Schoolboy - John le Carré
Silver: Laidlaw - William McIlvanney

1976 Gold: A Demon in my View - Ruth Rendell
Silver: Rogue Eagle - James McClure

1975 Gold: The Seven per cent solution - Nicholas Meyer
Silver: The Black Tower - PD James

1974 Gold: Other Paths to Glory - Anthony Price
Silver: The Grosvenor Square Goodbye - Francis Clifford

1973 Gold: The Defection of A.J.Lewinter - Robert Littell
Silver: A Coffin for Pandora - Gwendoline Butler

1972 Gold: The Levanter - Eric Ambler
Silver: The Rainbird Pattern - Victor Canning

1971 Gold: The Steam Pig - James McClure
Silver: Shroud for a Nightingale - PD James

1970 Gold: Young Man I Think You're Dying - Joan Fleming
Silver: The Labyrinth Makers - Anthony Price

1969 Gold: A Pride of Heroes - Peter Dickinson
Silver: Another Way of Dying - Francis Clifford

The CWA Gold Dagger for Fiction

1968: Skin Deep (The 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