The HWA / Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition 2020
A first prize of £500 with mentoring sessions offered to the winner and two Highly Commended Writers. The winners and rest of the shortlisted stories will also be published as an anthology by the HWA and Dorothy Dunnett Society.
2020 Crown Awards
UPDATE: Submissions are now closed, but we will be calling in a few titles requested by our judges. Any questions please contact Imogen Robertson on chair@historicalwriters.org
We WILL be awarding three Crown Awards for exceptional historical writing on 25th November 2020.
The Crowns are open to any book first published in English in the UK between 1 April 2019 and 31st March 2020. The Debut Crown is for the best book by a debut novelist; The Gold Crown is for the best historical novel of the year; and the Non-Fiction Crown is for the best work of historical non-fiction. Translations are welcome. The nomination fee is £35 for each title.
PLEASE NOTE – after all the disruption of the last weeks, we’ve changed our timetable for the 2020 Crowns. Nominations will be open throughout April, with the longlists and shortlists announced in the late summer and early autumn. The Crown Award Ceremony will take place on Wednesday 25th November.
We plan to hold the ceremony in St Ethelburga’s Church in Bishopsgate, but of course this will depend on what is safe and practical at that time. The safety of our members, authors, publishers, agents, judges, bloggers, booksellers and friends remains our top priority, and if that means the Crowns Ceremony becomes an online celebration only, so be it. Even – and perhaps especially – this year we still want to play our part in celebrating the brilliant historical writing, fiction and non-fiction, published in the UK and its ability to engage, illuminate, entertain and inform legions of readers.
We also appreciate that many publishers will wish to provide judges with e-versions of books rather than physical copies. We love having the physical books, but of course we wholeheartedly support all the efforts the industry is making to keep their employees safe and healthy and will happily take e-versions if needs be.
There are still sponsorship opportunities available for these awards, but at this time we are happy to take moral support! We are sorry to say we won’t be making cash awards this year, unless a sponsor steps in to fund them. Should any such person be tempted, please email Imogen Robertson.
HWA Debut Crown
This award is for the best historical novel by a first-time fiction author of any nationality first published in the UK in English.
HWA Gold Crown
This award is for the best historical novel first published in the UK in English.
HWA Non-Fiction Crown
This award is for the best non-fiction work published in the UK in English.