Literary award · United States · since 1989
Agatha Award
For mystery and crime writers. Established 1989 in United States.
About Agatha Award
The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie, are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write in the traditional mystery subgenre: "books typified by the works of Agatha Christie . . . loosely defined as mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore or gratuitous violence, and are not classified as 'hard-boiled.'" At an annual convention in Washington, D.C., the Agatha Awards are handed out by Malice Domestic Ltd, in six categories: Best Novel; Best First Mystery; Best Historical Novel; Best Short Story; Best Non-Fiction; Best Children's/Young Adult Mystery. Additionally, in some years the Poirot Award is presented to honor individuals other than writers who have made outstanding contributions to the mystery genre, but it is not an annual award.
From the Wikipedia article “Agatha Award”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Recent winners
| Year | Winner | Winning work |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | John Curran | Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making |
| 1988 | Robert Barnard | — |
| — | Charlaine Harris | — |
From Wikidata; the list may be incomplete for some years.
Eligibility and entering
Check the official rules of the Agatha Award for the current eligibility window, accepted formats, residency or language requirements and any entry fee. For most established prizes the publisher submits on the author's behalf, often with a limit on entries per imprint.
If you are self-published, look for an explicit statement that independently published books are accepted, and budget for entry fees and copies for judges.
Sources & data
- Structured data from Wikidata Q390975 (CC0).
- Summary text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).