Crime fiction · United Kingdom
The CWA Gold Dagger
The UK's most prestigious crime fiction prize, awarded since 1960 by the Crime Writers' Association. The Gold Dagger is open to any crime novel originally written in English and first published in the UK. Winners 2000–2025.
The Gold Dagger is the headline prize at the annual CWA Daggers ceremony, covering thrillers, mysteries, police procedurals, psychological suspense and spy fiction. It was renamed from the Crossed Red Herring Award in 1960 and has been awarded every year since.
Mick Herron (Slough House series) holds the record for most nominations (6). Michael Robotham has won twice — in 2015 and 2020. The 2025 winner Anna Mazzola continued the award's recent tradition of honouring historical crime fiction.
Winners
- 2000 Motherless Brooklyn Jonathan Lethem Find on Amazon →
- 2001 Sidetracked Henning Mankell Find on Amazon →
- 2002 The Athenian Murders José Carlos Somoza Find on Amazon →
- 2003 Fox Evil Minette Walters Find on Amazon →
- 2004 Blacklist Sara Paretsky Find on Amazon →
- 2005 Silence of the Grave Arnaldur Indriðason
- 2006 Raven Black Ann Cleeves
- 2007 The Broken Shore Peter Temple
- 2008 Blood from Stone Frances Fyfield
- 2009 A Whispered Name William Brodrick
- 2010 Blacklands Belinda Bauer
- 2011 Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter Tom Franklin
- 2012 The Rage Gene Kerrigan
- 2013 Dead Lions Mick Herron
- 2014 This Dark Road to Mercy Wiley Cash
- 2015 Life or Death Michael Robotham · more by this author
- 2016 Dodgers Bill Beverly
- 2017 The Dry Jane Harper
- 2018 The Liar Steve Cavanagh
- 2019 The Puppet Show M.W. Craven
- 2020 Good Girl, Bad Girl Michael Robotham · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2021 We Begin at the End Chris Whitaker · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2022 Sunset Swing Ray Celestin
- 2023 The Kingdoms of Savannah George Dawes Green
- 2024 Tell Me What I Am Una Mannion
- 2025 The Book of Secrets Anna Mazzola
Henning Mankell and José Carlos Somoza won under the pre-2006 rules when translated works were eligible. From 2006 a separate International Dagger was introduced; the Gold Dagger covers original English-language work only.
Winners verified against the prize's official records. For the complete history, see the official The CWA Gold Dagger site.
Common questions
What is the CWA Gold Dagger?
The headline prize at the annual Crime Writers' Association Daggers ceremony, awarded for the best crime novel originally written in English and first published in the UK. It covers all crime genres: mysteries, thrillers, procedurals, spy fiction and psychological suspense.
Who has won the CWA Gold Dagger the most times?
Ruth Rendell holds the record with four wins, including two under her pen name Barbara Vine. Michael Robotham has won twice in recent years, in 2015 and 2020.