The Crime Fiction Lover Awards are back. We apologise for not running them last year – this was due to serious health issues for Crime Fiction Lover – but we’re proud to present the awards again in 2026. It’s the fifth time we’ve run them and the purpose of our awards is to celebrate the best in crime fiction.
Our awards are different because they’re judged by the people who really matter – readers. Today we are opening nominations and we want you to nominate your top picks across our six categories. Nominations close on Weds 4 November 2026 and the following week we’ll bring you the shortlists and you can come back and vote.
Just as fictional killers have their trademark MOs, everyone has their own preferred way of doing things and we think this approach to annual awards makes them relevant, fun and participatory.
You can check out the 2024 shortlists here, and the 2024 winners can be seen here. We reckon this years accolades are going to be quite different.
How it works…
Nominations for the Crime Fiction Lover Awards 2026 have opened and you can nominate across six categories:
Book of the Year
Best Debut
Best in Translation
Best Indie Novel
Best Author
Best Crime Show
To qualify for the shortlist, nominated books need to have been published in English between 1 November 2025 and 31 October 2026. In the Best Author category, the author needs to have published crime fiction during this period.
It can be hard to define what an ‘indie’ crime novel is. There are some very large independent publishers out there. What we have in mind are small indie outfits, small presses and independent authors. Companies below a £2 million turnover. This is our chance to champion the little guy as times are tougher than ever.
You don’t need to nominate in every category. If you haven’t read anything in one or more categories just skip them. Better that than to make something up.
Now it’s time to reflect back on what you’ve read and watched over the last 12 months and put your best picks up for awards. Let’s let the crime fiction industry know what crime fiction lovers really want. You’ll find the nomination form here.
Voting on the winners
Nominations close at noon UK time on Weds 4 November 2026. Based on your selections, our team will assemble shortlists, which will go to the vote.
Your votes will lead to a Winner in each category, plus our team will award an Editor’s Choice prize from the shortlist.
Let’s be honest
You know. That Boaty McBoatface thing… Opening up online nominations exposes us to everything from silliness to outright fakery. In previous years, we’ve spotted voting patterns that might have disrupted our awards – such as people pasting the same book title and author into every category, including Best Crime Show! We have measures in place to keep our awards fair but equally we’d ask you to be honest and only nominate books you’ve read and shows you’ve watched.
These awards are being run in good faith. Please respect that and help us keep it honest. We will do our utmost to ensure that – one, they’re driven by our community; and two, everything is conducted fairly for all involved.
But we don’t want to end on too serious a note. Here at Crime Fiction Lover we really enjoy running these awards and we hope you enjoy taking part. We’re having fun celebrating the genre we love. Now, it’s time to get nominating!
