The Historical Writers Association
The official website of the HWA
The winners are:
Gold: The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry (Canongate Books)
Non-fiction: Moederland by Cato Pedder (John Murray)
Debut: A Poisoner’s Tale by Cathryn Kemp (Bantam)
Read more about the books and the shortlisted titles on Historia
The winning and shortlisted stories!
Huge congratulations to our winner, Sean Lusk, our Highly Commended writers, Alex Edwards and Joseph Dragovich, and the writers of our shortlisted stories, Liz Kershaw, Sopie Lenoir, and Elaine O’Connor. You can buy the anthology containing all six stories on amazon.
Many congratulations to the writers of our longlisted stories. The shortlist and winning stories will be announced on Friday 3 October! We ended up with nearly 150 stories this year and the standard was extremely high. Many thanks to our first round judges for taking on the very difficult task of selected the longlist. We were transported around the world and across the ages reading them.
Iko of Benin, King’s Diver – Jo Bardsley
Sword and Song – Millie Bowker
Inquire with Josephine – Maria Brekke
City of the Dead – Anne Byrne
Rammerfjellet, Fallen – Katherine Catchpole
A Discourse on the True Nature of Evil – Kirsten Claiden-Yardley
Domina tarraconensis vandalorum – Alexander Daman
A Game of Hazard – Katy Darby
We Bring Miracles – Joseph Dragovich
Poacher Turned Game Keeper – Alex Edwards
The Changeling – Emma Fielder
War-Thoughts Have Left Their Places Vacant – Irma Gottschalk
The Carnation Revolution – Portia Holdsworth
An Insignificant Act – Liz Kershaw
Before The Carnival – John Barrett Lee
Octagon – Sophie Lenoir
Golden Paratroopers – Bryony Lorimer
Final Score – Sean Lusk
New Hooves for Old – Anne Meale
Barred – Elaine O’Connor
What can you tell us of the misted lands – Sally O’Reilly
What We Burned – Dane Sawyer
The Convention – Gerard J. Uhrig
Sugar Moon – Jane Weary
Foie Gras For Two – Judith Wilson
The fantastic books longlisted for the Debut, Gold and Non-Fiction Crowns have been announced! Read all about them at https://historiamag.com/2025-hwa-crown-awards-longlists/
Yes, fate is on your side! You still have time to enter!
It looks like we haven’t got the word out enough on the DDS / HWA Short Story Competition this year, so we are extending the deadline to midnight on 1 August 2025. Many thanks to those who have already submitted a story.
Perhaps we rely too much on X (formerly Twitter) to spread the word, or perhaps our muses are all on strike. Last year saw our highest ever number of entries, so something strange is going on! If your muse needs encouragement remind them this competition has helped launch the career of some excellent writers of historical fiction.
Please do spread the word if you have the chance. All the details are available here: https://historicalwriters.org/ddshwass-award-2025/
You can read last year’s fantastic winner here: https://historiamag.com/st-kilda-bird-song-kf-maccarthy-hwaddss24/
Due to some technical problems with the site (sigh) we have extended the date for submissions for the HWA Crowns to midnight on Friday 9 May 2025. If anyone has continuing problems with the site, or you want to check that your submissions have been received, please email Imogen on chair@historicalwriters.org