As far as I am able to determine, the year listed is the
year of the award, for books published in the previous year.
Agatha Award: The Agatha Awards,
named for Agatha Christie, are presented during Malice Domestic each year. Malice Domestic attendees
registered by the cutoff date vote for the nominees; the Agathas are selected at the convention by
all convention attendees. The winner of one year's award were published in the previous year. This
award is for "cozies".
Anthony Award: Voted on by the membership of Bouchercon each year [generally in
September/October].
Daggar Awards: Judged by
professionals in their own field, sponsored by The Macallan with judges appointed by the CWA [Crime
Writer's Association], the GOLD DAGGER FOR CRIME FICTION has long been the most prestigious UK award
in crime writing.
Dily [Independent Mystery Booksellers Association] Award
Edgar Allan Poe Award: The Edgar
Allan Poe awards (the "Edgars") are named after MWA's [Mystery Writers of America] patron
saint, Edgar Allan Poe, and are awarded to authors of distinguished work in various categories of
the genre. They are voted on by members of the organization.
Herodotus Award: an annual award honoring excellence in historical mysteries. The award is
called
The Herodotus, in honor of the Greek "Father of History" who never let history
stand in the way of a good story.
Karen Besecker Memorial Award: The Karen Besecker Memorial Award was begun by an anonymous
donor who gave $100 to establish an award to provide encouragement and recognition to novice mystery
writers in Karen's memory. The donor gave the money to FUTURES magazine, because the donor felt that
"FUTURES' compassion for new writers makes this connection with FUTURES Karen's style".
The publisher of FUTURES, Babs Lakey, added $100 to the pot and
worked to develop the contest into the meaningful award Karen's friends wanted. She recruited
well-known authors and publishers to serve as judges, and publicized the contest in FUTURES and
online. The first competition had barely ended when she began working on ideas to continue the
contest into the future. She hopes to "continue this award each year in honor of Karen and the
untold others like her who give of themselves to help make all our creative dreams come true."
LA Times Mystery/Thriller Book Award [new in 2001]
Macavity Award: The Macavity Award is named for the "mystery cat" of T.S. Eliot
(Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats). Each year the members of Mystery Readers International
nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in four categories.
Minnesota Book Award: The award was established in 1988 to recognize books which represent
the history, culture, heritage or lifestyle of northeastern Minnesota. The books span a variety of
genres. For the purposes of the award, northeastern Minnesota is defined to include the following
counties: Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Itasca, Kanabec, Koochiching, Lake, Pine and St. Louis.
Nero Wolfe Award: for the novel that best captures the spirit and fairplay aspects of the
Nero Wolfe novels by Rex Stout. Awarded by "the Wolfe Pack".
North American Hammett Prize: The Dashiell Hammett Prize is presented by the North American
branch of the International Association of Crime Writers to an American or Canadian book of
outstanding literary merit. This is an award of fairly recent origin. The winner is announced in the
late spring before the end of May.
OLMA [On Line Mystery Award]
Shamus Awards: The
Shamus Award is given by the Private Eye Writers of America to honor excellent work in the Private
Eye genre. The award was created by Robert J. Randisi in 1981. Committee members of PWA select
nominees and winners, much in the same way as the Edgars are chosen. In general, a "private
eye" is any mystery protagonist who is a professional investigator, but not a police officer or
government agent.
Spotted Owl Award: This award was established in 1996. It is given to the best novel of the
year by an author who lives in the Pacific Northwest. It is given by the Friends of Mystery.
