John Dean – Crime Writer

There is still plenty of time for authors to enter one of the world’s most exciting prizes for unpublished writers.

The Emerging Author Dagger (formerly the Debut Dagger), is run by the UK-based Crime Writers’ Association and sponsored by Fiction Feedback Editorial Consultancy.

An international competition, it is open to any unpublished writer in the world writing in English, for a crime novel opening (max. 3,000 words) and synopsis (max. 1,500 words).

The novel – of any subgenre; including but not limited to thriller, noir, cosy mystery, suspense, police procedural, historical, spy story and crossover of any kind including supernatural, romance and fantasy – should be suitable for adults or young adult and authors don’t need to have completed the novel to enter. The deadline for the 2026 is 27 February 2026.

The Emerging Author Dagger is for unpublished novelists. Entries are eligible from writers who have never had a publishing contract for a novel of any kind and who don’t have a literary agent when the competition closes. Entrants must not have made this novel or any other piece of prose fiction of any length available for the public to buy at any time,  with the exception of up to three short stories, which may have been published in anthologies alongside other authors’ work.

See https://thecwa.co.uk/ for more information, including how to enter.