Submissions for the Crown Awards 2021 are now open!
The 2021 Crown Awards (Debut, Gold and Non-Fiction) are for full length books published for the first time in English in the UK between the 1 April 2020 – 31st March 2021. For fiction, the bulk of the narrative of the work submitted must take place at least thirty-five years prior to publication. For non-fiction, the key events must have taken place, or the subject have been primarily active at least thirty-five years prior to publication.
Awards Timeline
Nominations close: 30th April 2021
Longlists announced: 11 August 2021
Shortlists announced: 5 October 2021
Awards made: 24 November 2021
We plan to hold the 2021 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 remains an online celebration only, so be it. 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.
Meet the Judges of the 2021 Crowns
See how we managed in 2020 and which of the amazing shortlisted books emerged triumphant:
There are still sponsorship opportunities available for these awards. We are sorry to say we won’t be making cash awards this year, unless a sponsor steps in to fund them. To discuss sponsorship of any or all of the Crown awards, please email Imogen Robertson.
To Nominate A Title
Nominate a book for any of the HWA Crowns using the form below. If you wish to nominate more than one book, you can use the same form multiple times. Once your submission has been checked by our administrator, we will invoice you. Each entry carries a charge of £35. There is no further charge if a book is long or shortlisted. We will email you in with the judges’ addresses to request judging copies after the invoice for your submission fee has been raised.
Remember! The Crown Awards 2021 are for books first published in English in the UK between 1 April 2020 – 31st March 2021
You can read the full terms and conditions here, including notes on eligibility, copies required and so on.
If you have any questions about the prize, problems with the form or want to check on a submission at any point, please email chair@historicalwriters.org The form works best using Chrome as a browser and the date format is dd/mm/yyyy. We’re currently rechecking it to make sure it doesn’t cause headaches with other browsers – thank you for your patience!
While we are sorting out the problem, please feel free to use this spreadsheet: Blank entry form HWA Crowns 2021 to send us the details of the books you are submitting. You might find this particularly useful if you are entering more than one book. When you have filled in the details, please save the file with your company name in the title, and email it direct to Imogen (chair@historicalwriters.org).