Recently, we helped announce the annual CrimeFest Awards, as well as writing the film script for the online awards ceremony, presented by Agatha Raisin actor, Matt McCooey, and produced by Free At Last TV.
Cause UK also promoted the news on the CrimeFest social media channels, reaching 1,003,053 users on Twitter on the morning of the announcement, with Tweets from leading authors including Richard Osman and Ian Rankin. The news featured in the Bookseller and across the crime blogging community.
Full press release below.
2021 CRIMEFEST Awards – Winners Announced
CRIMEFEST, one of Europe’s leading crime writing conventions, has announced the winners of its annual awards.
Now in its 14th year, the awards honour the best crime books released in 2020 in the UK.
Specsavers co-founder, Dame Mary Perkins, said: “Many congratulations to Trevor who really captured the city of Newcastle wonderfully in his book and let’s hope there’s more to come from this up-and-coming author. We don’t need research to tell us that more people have taken to reading in these last 15 months than ever before – with stories to take them out of their lockdowns and isolation – so we were delighted once again to sponsor this award.”
As well as a prolific novelist, Martin Edwards is a renowned editor, reviewer, columnist and versatile writer of non-fiction, and is a leading authority on crime fiction; he received the CWA Diamond Dagger in 2020
The CRIMEFEST eDunnit Award for best e-book sees Ian Rankin take the title with A Song for the Dark Times, beating fellow giants of the genre, Michael Connelly and James Lee Burke.
Laurence Howell, Vice President, Content at Audible, said: “Congratulations to Richard Osman for the Audible Sounds of Crime Award. Audiobooks have been a great comfort to many over the past year, because of their intimate, immersive nature and the crime and mystery genre has been incredibly popular.”
CRIMEFEST Best Crime Novel for Young Adults, aged 12-16, goes to the multi-award-winning author Patrice Lawrence, who won the CRIMEFEST award in 2018 for Indigo Donut. This year her book Eight Pieces of Silva, an addictive tale of a teenager’s hunt for her missing sister, takes the top prize.
CRIMEFEST has had to postpone its 2020 and 2021 conventions, due to Covid restrictions. Hosted in Bristol, it is one of the biggest crime fiction events in Europe, and one of the most popular dates in the international crime fiction calendar, with circa 60 panel events and 150 authors over four days. Tentative dates for next year’s Bristol CRIMEFEST are 12-15 May, 2022.
In light of Covid-19, the 2021 winners were announced online with an awards ceremony, hosted by Agatha Raisin co-star Matt McCooey, who plays Inspector Bill Wong in the hit series. The ceremony is available on the website www.crimefest.com and via its social media pages, from midnight on Tuesday, 1 June.
All winners receive a Bristol Blue commemorative Glass Award.
Leading British crime fiction reviewers and reviewers of fiction for children and young adults form the CRIMEFEST judging panels, aside from Audible Sounds, where Audible listeners establish the shortlist and the winning title.
CRIMEFEST was created following the hugely successful one-off visit to Bristol in 2006 of the American Left Coast Crime convention. It was established in 2008. It follows the egalitarian format of most US conventions, making it open to all commercially published authors and readers alike.