10 Nov Fiction Feedback Sponsors CWA’s Emerging Author Dagger

In November 2024, we were delighted to announce that we’ll be sponsoring the Crime Writers’ Association Emerging Author Dagger – formerly known as the Debut Dagger.

Dea Parkin, founder of Fiction Feedback and Editor-in-chief, has long been involved with the Dagger in her capacity as first Secretary, then General Coordinator, and now Competitions Coordinator at the CWA, so the opportunity for sponsorship was not to be missed.

Dea says: ‘The CWA and the wonderful crime writers they support have helped me to pursue the career of my dreams: editing fiction and helping talented writers get published. It’s an honour to give something back by supporting the Emerging Author Dagger as a sponsor, as well as continuing the best role in the world as the CWA’s Competitions Coordinator.’

The sponsorship is for the year 2024-2025. The international competition, for the opening and synopsis of an unpublished crime novel of any subgenre and written in English, opened on 1 October 2024 and closes on 28 February 2025. The longlist and shortlist will be announced online and the winner at the CWA’s Dagger Awards event in London in summer 2025. Writers who have never had a full-length novel published (except a novel that is no longer for sale and was self-published three years ago or more), are eligible to enter and the entry fee is £42. The winner receives £500, but the prize that makes this competition especially attractive is that the entry for both the winner and the shortlisted writers is shown to agents and publishers. Many entrants get representation and a publishing contract as a result. You don’t need to have finished the novel to enter: details are here: https://thecwa.co.uk/awards-and-competitions/the-daggers/emerging-author-dagger/