The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction is a British literary award established in 1978 by the Crime Writers' Association, who have awarded the Gold Dagger fiction award since 1955.
| CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Best non-fiction work on a crime theme |
| Sponsored by | The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) |
| Date | 6 July 2023 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| First awarded | 1978 |
| Website | thecwa |
In 1978 and 1979 only there was also a silver award. From 1995 to 2002 it was sponsored by The Macallan (Scotch whisky brand) and known as The Macallan Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction. In 2008 the award was sponsored by Owatonna Media (a London-based literary brand investor and owner). Between 2006 and 2010 it was awarded every other year, in even-numbered years, but in 2011 it returned as an annual award. As of 2023[update] it is called the ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction.[1] The prize is now a cheque for £1,000 and a decorative dagger.
Winners and shortlists edit
2020s edit
2023[2]
- Winner: Wendy Joseph, Unlawful Killings: Life, Love and Murder: Trials at the Old Bailey.[3] (Transworld). Revealing, humane and gripping stories from Wendy Joseph, a retired Old Bailey judge
- Stephen Bates, The Poisonous Solicitor (Icon Books)
- Martin Edwards, The Life of Crime (HarperCollins)
- Amit Katwala, Tremors in the Blood (HarperCollins)
- Julie Mackay & Robert Murphy, To Hunt a Killer (HarperCollins)
- David Whitehouse, About A Son (Orion Publishing Group)
2022[4]
- Winner: Julia Laite, The Disappearance of Lydia Harvey: A True Story of Sex, Crime and the Meaning of Justice.[5] (Profile Books). An account of the short life of a New Zealand woman trafficked as part of the burgeoning sex trade at the start of the twentieth century
- Gwen Adshead & Eileen Horne, The Devil You Know (Faber and Faber)
- Julie Kavanagh, The Irish Assassins (Atlantic Books; Grove Press UK)
- Patrick Radden Keefe, Empire of Pain (Pan Macmillan; Picador)
- Ben Machell, The Unusual Suspect (Canongate)
- Thomas Morris, The Dublin Railway Murder (Penguin Random House; Harvill Secker)
2021[6]
- Winner: Sue Black, Written in Bone (Doubleday, Penguin). Anatomist and forensic pathologist Sue Black takes us on a tour of the bony body.
- Becky Cooper, We Keep the Dead Close (William Heinemann, Penguin)
- Andrew Harding, These Are Not Gentle People (MacLehose)
- Debora Harding, Dancing with the Octopus (Profile Books)
- Nick Hayes, The Book of Trespass (Bloomsbury)
- Ben MacIntyre, Agent Sonya (Viking, Penguin)
2020[7]
- Winner: Casey Cep, Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee.[8] (William Heinemann). Two intertwined tales: of a preacher in Alabama who apparently killed no fewer than five relatives, and of author Harper Lee’s attempts to make a non-fiction book out of it.
- Peter Everett, Corrupt Bodies. (Icon Books)
- Caroline Goode, Honour: Achieving Justice for Banaz Mahmod (Oneworld Publications)
- Sean O'Connor, The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenbury (Simon & Schuster)
- Adam Sisman, The Professor and the Parson (Profile Books)
- Susannah Stapleton, The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective (Picador)
2010s edit
- Ben Macintyre, The Spy and the Traitor, (Viking). An account of the defection of Oleg Gordievsky.
- Sue Black, All That Remains (Doubleday)
- Mikita Brottman, An Unexplained Death (Canongate)
- Claire Harman, Murder by the Book (Viking)
- Kirk Wallace Johnson, The Feather Thief (Hutchinson)
- Hallie Rubenhold, The Five (Doubleday)
- Thomas Harding, Blood on the Page (William Heinemann). Account of a recent murder of a Hampstead eccentric, and of the subsequent trial in which parts of the evidence were suppressed by government order
- Piu Eatwell, Black Dahlia Red Rose (Coronet)
- David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon (Simon & Schuster)
- Alexandria Mariano-Lesnevich, The Fact of a Body (Macmillan)
- T. Christian Miller & Ken Armstrong, A False Report (Hutchinson)
- Laura Thompson, Rex v Edith Thompson (Head of Zeus)
- Stephen Purvis, Close but no Cigar: A true story of prison life in Castro's Cuba (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
- Simon Farquhar, A Dangerous Place (The History Press)
- Anja Reich-Osang, The Scholl Case: The Deadly End of a Marriage (Text Publishing)
- Kate Summerscale, The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer (Bloomsbury)
- A. T. Williams, A Passing Fury: Searching for Justice at the End of World War II (Jonathan Cape)
- Gary Younge, Another Day in the Death of America (Guardian / Faber and Faber)
- Andrew Hankinson, You Could Do Something Amazing With Your Life [You Are Raoul Moat] (Scribe)
- Wensley Clarkson, Sexy Beasts: The Hatton Garden Mob (Quercus)
- Martin Edwards, The Golden Age of Murder (HarperCollins)
- Thomas Grant, Jeremy Hutchinson’s Case Histories (John Murray)
- Luke Harding, A Very Expensive Poison (Faber and Faber)
- Adam Sisman, John le Carré: The Biography (Bloomsbury)
- Dan Davies, In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile (Quercus). Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal
- Paul Fischer, A Kim Jong il Production (Penguin)
- Jill Leovy, Ghettoside: Investigating a Homicide Epidemic (Bodley Head)
- Iain Overton, Gun Baby Gun: A Bloody Journey Into the World of the Gun (Canongate)
- Ǻsne Seierstad, One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway (Virago)
- Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption (Scribe)
- 2014[19]
- Adrian Levy & Cathy Scott-Clark, The Siege (Viking). 2008 Mumbai attacks and the siege at the Taj hotel
- Kate Colqhoun, Did She Kill Him? (Little, Brown Book Group)
- Damien Echols, Life After Death: Eighteen Years on Death Row (Atlantic Books)
- Jeff Guinn, Manson (Simon & Schuster)
- Samantha Geimer, The Girl (Simon & Schuster)
- Paul Lewis and Rob Evans, Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police (Faber and Faber)
- 2013[20]
- Paul French, Midnight in Peking, (Penguin / Viking) The 1937 murder of Pamela Werner in Beijing
- Highly Commended: Richard Hoskins, The Boy in the River (Pan Macmillan)
- Mukesh Kapila with Damien Lewis, Against a Tide of Evil (Mainstream)
- Carol Ann Lee, A Fine Day for a Hanging (Mainstream)
- Clive Stafford Smith, Injustice: Life and Death in the Courtrooms of America (Random House)
- Diana Souhami, Murder at Wrotham Hill (Quercus)
- Anthony Summers & Robbyn Swan, The Eleventh Day (Transworld). An account of 9/11
- Highly Commended: Ben Lopez, The Negotiator (Little, Brown)
- Leaf Fielding, To Live Outside the Law (Serpent’s Tail)
- Misha Glenny, Dark Market (Vintage)
- Gavin Knight, Hood Rat (Pan Macmillan)
- David Smith with Carol Ann Lee, Witness (Mainstream)
- 2011[23]
Eligibility: works first published in the UK in English between 1 June 2010 and 31 May 2011. The award became an annual fixture once again, but this year the prize fund was halved to £1000.
- Douglas Starr, The Killer of Little Shepherds (Simon & Schuster). The crimes and conviction of the nineteenth-century French serial murderer Joseph Vacher
- Judith Flanders, The Invention of Murder (HarperCollins)
- Colin Evans, Slaughter on a Snowy Morn (Icon Books)
- Michael Capuzzo, The Murder Room (Michael Joseph)
- Kate Colquhoun, Mr Briggs’ Hat (Little, Brown)
- 2010[24]
Eligibility: works published between June 1, 2008 and May 31, 2010
- Ruth Dudley Edwards, Aftermath: The Omagh Bombing & the Families’ Pursuit of Justice (Harvill Secker). The successful civil case taken against the suspects for the Omagh bombing
- David Cesarani, Major Farran’s Hat (Heinemann)
- David R Dow, Killing Time (Heinemann)
- Jeff Guinn, The True, Untold Story of Bonnie & Clyde (Simon & Schuster)
- Alex McBride, Defending the Guilty (Penguin / Viking)
- Douglas Preston, with Mario Spezi, The Monster of Florence: A True Story (Virgin / Random House)
2000s edit
- 2009
Not awarded as award had become biennial.
- Kester Aspden, Nationality: Wog - The Hounding of David Oluwale (Random House). Death of David Oluwale in Leeds in 1969
- Francisco Goldman, The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed Bishop Gerardi (Atlantic Books). Death of Juan José Gerardi Conedera in Guatemala in 1998
- David Rose, Violation: Justice, Race and Serial Murder in the Deep South (HarperPress). The case of Carlton Gary, sentenced to death in 1986 in Georgia, USA
- Duncan Staff, The Lost Boy (Bantam Press). Keith Bennett, victim of the Moors Murders, England, 1964
- Kate Summerscale, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House (Bloomsbury). Murder in 1860 in Somerset, England, to which Constance Kent confessed
- Peter Zimonjic, Into the Darkness: 7/7 (Vintage Books). First-hand account of the 7 July 2005 London bombings
- 2007
Not awarded. It was decided that the award was to become a biennial award.[27]
- 2006[28]
- Linda Rhodes, Lee Shelden, and Kathryn Abnett, The Dagenham Murder: The Brutal Killing of PC George Clark, 1846 (The Borough of Barking and Dagenham). Murder of policeman George Clark in 1846 in Dagenham, London
- Sebastian Junger, A Death in Belmont (Fourth Estate). Boston Strangler murders of 1962-1964 in USA
- Nuala O'Faolain, The Story of Chicago May (Michael Joseph). Irish-born international criminal Chicago May, born May Duignan
- Sister Helen Prejean, The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions (Canterbury Press). Executions of Dobie Gillis Williams (1999) and Joseph O'Dell in USA)
- William Queen, Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover Agent Who Infiltrated America's Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang (Mainstream). First-hand account of infiltrating Mongols gang in USA
- Sue Williams, And Then the Darkness: The Fascinating Story of the Disappearance of Peter Falconio and the Trials of Joanne Lees (John Blake). Disappearance of Peter Falconio in Australia, 2001
- 2005[29]
- Gregg and Gina Hill, On The Run: a Mafia childhood (Hutchinson). By the children of Henry Hill, American mobster
- Bella Bathurst, The Wreckers: A Story of Killing Seas, False Lights, and Plundered Shipwrecks. (HarperCollins). Wrecking off the UK coast
- Eric Jager, The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France (Century). Trial by combat of Jean de Carrouges, France, 1386
- Sadakat Kadri, The Trial: a history from Socrates to O. J. Simpson (HarperCollins). History of trials
- James Owen, A Serpent in Eden: The Greatest Murder Mystery of All Time (Little, Brown). Murder of Harry Oakes in Nassau, Bahamas, in 1943
- 2004[30]
Joint winners
- John Dickie, Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia (Hodder & Stoughton). History of the Sicilian mafia from its 1860s beginnings
- Sarah Wise, The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave Robbery in 1830s London (Jonathan Cape). The Italian Boy murder, London, 1831
- Rebecca Gowers, The Swamp of Death: A True Tale of Victorian Lies and Murder (Hamish Hamilton). Reginald Birchall, a young Englishman who set off for Canada in 1890 and was found dead in a swamp shortly after arriving
- Steve Holland, The Trials of Hank Janson (Telos Publishing). Censorship of crime writer Hank Janson in 1940s Britain
- Mende Nazer and Damian Lewis, Slave: The True Story of a Girl's Lost Childhood and her Fight for Survival (Time Warner). Mende Nazer's own story
- 2003[31]
- Samantha Weinberg, Pointing from the Grave: a True Story of Murder and DNA (Hamish Hamilton). Murder of Helena Greenwood in 1985 in California and early use of DNA profiling to identify her killer 15 years later
- Michael Bilton, Wicked Beyond Belief: the Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper (HarperCollins). Peter Sutcliffe, serial killer convicted in 1981
- Erik Larson, Devil In The White City:Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America (Doubleday). Serial killer H. H. Holmes and the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, USA
- Chandak Sengoopta, Imprint of the Raj: the Colonial Origin of Fingerprinting and its Voyage to Britain (Macmillan). The science of fingerprinting, developed in India and first used in court in England in 1902
- Donald Thomas, An Underworld at War: Spivs, Deserters, Racketeers and Civilians in the Second World War (John Murray). Events in Britain during World War II
- Peter Walsh, Gang War: the Inside Story of the Manchester Gangs (Milo Books). Contemporary gangs in Manchester
- 2002[32]
- Lillian Pizzichini, Dead Man's Wages: the secrets of a London conman and his family (Picador). Life of conman Charlie Taylor, the author's grandfather
- Miranda Carter, Anthony Blunt, His Lives (Macmillan). Anthony Blunt, British spy and art historian
- Don Hale (with Marika Huns & Hamish McGregor), Town Without Pity: the Fight to Clear Stephen Downing of the Bakewell Murder (Century). (Stephen Downing, jailed for murder in 1974, conviction overturned in 2002)
- Special mention: Julian Earwaker & Kathleen Becker, Scene of the Crime: a Guide to the Landscapes of British Detective FictionJudged to be outside the scope of the award but worthy of commendation (Aurum)
- Philip Etienne and Martin Maynard (with Tony Thompson), The Infiltrators: the First Inside Account of Life Deep Undercover with Scotland Yard's Most Secret Unit (Penguin). Two members of SO10, the Metropolitan Police's undercover unit
- Zacaria Erzinçlioglu, Maggots, Murder and Men: Memories and Reflections of a Forensic Entomologist (Harley Books). Forensic entomology
- Adrian Weale, Patriot Traitors: Roger Casement, John Amery and the Real Meaning of Treason (Viking Press). (Roger Casement and John Amery, the only Britons to be executed for high treason in the 20th century)
- Edward Bunker, Mr. Blue: Memoirs of a Renegade (No Exit Press). The author's own story of a life of crime
- Tony Barnes, Richard Elias and Peter Walsh, Cocky (Milo Books)
- Andrew Motion, Wainewright the Poisoner (Faber and Faber)
- Tony Thompson, Bloggs 19 (Warner Books)
- Errol Trzebinski, The Life and Death of Lord Errol (Fourth Estate)
1990s edit
- 1999
Eligibility: works published in the UK in English between 16 October 1998 and 15 September 1999. It carried a prize of £2,000. The 1999 Non-Fiction Judges were: Brian Innes (chairman), Robert Church, Professor Bernard Knight, Joan Lock, Kathryn J Skoyles.[37]
- Brian Cathcart, The Case of Stephen Lawrence (Viking)
- Martin Booth, The Dragon Syndicates (Doubleday)
- Stuart S. Kind, The Sceptical Witness (Hodology Ltd., distributed by The Forensic Science Society)
- 1998
- Gitta Sereny, Cries Unheard: Why Children Kill - The Story of Mary Bell
- 1997
- Paul Britton, The Jigsaw Man (The Remarkable Career of Britain's Foremost Criminal Psychologist)
- 1996
- Antonia Fraser, The Gunpowder Plot
- 1995
- Martin Beales, Dead Not Buried
- 1994
- 1993
- Alexandra Artley, Murder in the Heart
- 1992
- Charles Nicholl, The Reckoning
- 1991
- John Bossy, Giordano Bruno and the Embassy Affair
- 1990
- Jonathan Goodman, The Passing of Starr Faithfull
1980s edit
- 1989
- Robert Lindsey, A Gathering of Saints: A True Story of Money, Murder and Deceit
- 1988
- Bernard Wasserstein, The Secret Lives of Trebitsch Lincoln
- 1987
- Bernard Taylor/Stephen Knight, Perfect Murder
- 1986
- John Bryson, Evil Angels
- 1985
- Brian Masters, Killing for Company
- 1984
- 1983
- Peter Watson, Double Dealer: How Five Art Dealers, Four Policemen, Three Picture Restorers, Two Auction Houses and a Journalist Plotted to Recover Some of the World's Most Beautiful Stolen Paintings
- 1982
- John Cornwell, Earth to Earth
- 1981
- 1980
- Anthony Summers, Conspiracy
1970s edit
- 1979
- Shirley Green, Rachman
- 1978
- Audrey Williamson, The Mystery of the Princes
References edit
- ^ "ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction". The Crime Writers’ Association. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
- ^ Mitchell, Erin (12 May 2023). "2023 CWA Dagger Shortlists Revealed". Crimespree Magazine. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
- ^ "2023 Dagger Award Winners Announced". The Crime Writers’ Association. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
- ^ "CWA Dagger Shortlists Announced". The Crime Writers’ Association. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
- ^ "2022 CWA Dagger Awards Announced". The Crime Writers’ Association. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
- ^ "ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction — The Crime Writers' Association". web.archive.org. 20 September 2021. Archived from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ "ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction — The Crime Writers' Association". 25 November 2020. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ "Michael Robotham wins the 2020 Gold Dagger". The Booktopian. 23 October 2020. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
- ^ "The Crime Writers' Association". thecwa.co.uk. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
- ^ "ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction — The Crime Writers' Association". 20 November 2019. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ "The Crime Writers' Association". thecwa.co.uk. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
- ^ "Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction — The Crime Writers' Association". 15 April 2019. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ "The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction". Crime Writers' Association. 2017. Archived from the original on 7 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
- ^ "Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction — The Crime Writers' Association". 27 September 2017. Archived from the original on 27 September 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ "The Crime Writers' Association". thecwa.co.uk. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
- ^ "Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction — The Crime Writers' Association". 10 November 2016. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ "The Crime Writers' Association". thecwa.co.uk. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
- ^ "Past winners". The Crime Writers’ Association. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ "Non-fiction — The Crime Writers' Association". 3 December 2014. Archived from the original on 3 December 2014. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ "Paul French wins 2013 CWA Dagger for Non-fiction". 29 July 2013. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ "The Crime Writers' Association". thecwa.co.uk. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
- ^ "CWA Dagger for Non-fiction: 2012 winners Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan". 21 October 2012. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ "The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction". Crime Writers' Association. 2011. Archived from the original on 12 September 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
- ^ "The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction". Crime Writers' Association. 2010. Archived from the original on 2 September 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
- ^ "The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction". Crime Writers' Association. 2008. Archived from the original on 24 January 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2009.
- ^ "CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction shortlist". Crime Writers' Association. 2008. Archived from the original on 7 January 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2009.
- ^ "The Duncan Lawrie and CWA Daggers 2007". 10 February 2009. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ "The CWA Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction". Crime Writers' Association. 2006. Archived from the original on 23 January 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2009.
- ^ "CWA Dagger for Non-Fiction". Crime Writers' Association. 2005. Archived from the original on 23 January 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
- ^ "The CWA's 2004 Non-Fiction Gold Dagger Award". Crime Writers' Association. 2004. Archived from the original on 23 January 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
- ^ "The 2003 Gold Dagger Award for Non-Fiction". Crime Writers' Association. 2003. Archived from the original on 24 January 2009. Retrieved 20 February 2009.
- ^ "The CWA The Macallan Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction". Crime Writers' Association. 2002. Archived from the original on 23 January 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
- ^ "The 2001 CWA Non-Fiction Dagger: The Macallan Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction". Crime Writers' Association. 2001. Archived from the original on 23 January 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
- ^ "CWA: Shortlist for the 2001 Macallan Daggers for Non-fiction". Archived from the original on 15 April 2002. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ "The CWA Dagger Awards 2000". Crime Writers' Association. 2000. Archived from the original on 24 February 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2009.
- ^ "THE CRIME WRITERS' ASSOCIATION'S DAGGER AWARDS". 2 June 2001. Archived from the original on 2 June 2001. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ "The CWA the Macallan Gold Dagger". 5 April 2001. Archived from the original on 5 April 2001. Retrieved 26 November 2023.