The Glencairn Glass to sponsor

Scottish International Crime Writing Awards 

Award winning Scottish family business Glencairn Crystal will sponsor the 2020 McIlvanney Prize for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year and the Bloody Scotland Debut Crime Novel of the Year, with its famous Glencairn Glass – the World’s Favourite Whisky Glass.

Both of the prestigious literary prizes will be awarded as part of the annual Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival, taking place from 18^th – 20^th September. Based in Stirling, Bloody Scotland has brought hundreds of crime writers – new and established –  to the stage along with enthusiastic festival attendees since 2012, with exciting events covering a range of criminal subjects from fictional forensics and psychological thrillers to tartan noir and cosy crime.

The McIlvanney Prize, in memory of William McIlvanney (the crime-writing ‘Godfather of Tartan Noir’) is Bloody Scotland’s annual prize awarded to the best Scottish crime book of the year with over sixty entries received for 2020. In 2019 Bloody Scotland also introduced a new prize to recognise the quality in new talent blossoming within crime writing – the Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year.

Glencairn Crystal has produced the decanter for the winner of The McIlvanney Prize over many years, so it was a natural partnership for the company to come on board as sponsors of the prizes in their entirety. Created by Glencairn Crystal, the Glencairn Glass is the world’s favourite whisky glass and the official glass for whisky, endorsed by the Scotch Whisky Association.

Sponsoring the Bloody Scotland literary awards is the perfect partnership for the family run team at Glencairn who pride themselves on celebrating passion, hard work and creativity in every aspect of their business.

Kirsty Nicholson, Glencairn’s Design and Marketing Manager commented: “We are delighted to sponsor the McIlvanney Prize for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year and the Bloody Scotland Debut Crime Novel of the Year.  As a Scottish family-owned company we are excited and proud to be involved with such prestigious prizes that both celebrate and reward such a rich and talented tradition as Scottish crime fiction. Like Scottish crime writing, the Glencairn Glass is uniquely Scottish with a truly global appeal. We look forward to a great working relationship with Bloody Scotland and would like to wish all the authors who have entered the best of luck.”

Bob McDevitt, Director of The Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival said: “It’s great to see that in this time of great uncertainty, the Bloody Scotland prizes have attracted another great crop of Scottish crime novels for readers to escape into. It’s especially heartening to see so many excellent debut authors slugging it out with the more established names. I’m also really pleased to welcome Glencairn Crystal on board as a sponsor of the prizes this year and look forward to working with them in the future.”

The winner of the Scottish Crime Book of the Year will be awarded The McIlvanney Prize on Friday 18^th September. The award recognises excellence in Scottish crime writing, includes a prize of £1000, a Glencairn Crystal Decanter and nationwide promotion in Waterstones. The Bloody Scotland Debut Prize will receive £500 and a Glencairn Star Trophy.

For further information visit:

www.bloodyscotland.com and www.glencairn.co.uk

Notes

About Glencairn Crystal:

• The Glencairn Glass, created in 2001, is endorsed by the Scotch Whisky Association as the official glass for whisky.  Glencairn make over 3 million per year, across hundreds of brands, distributed to over 140 countries worldwide.

• Glencairn’s clients include leading drinks companies, brands and other outlets, including: BP, Brown-Forman, Cunard, Diageo, Houses of Parliament, Muller, Google, Scottish Parliament and the majority of the Scottish Whisky manufacturers, in addition to many of the international whisky and spirit producers. 

About Bloody Scotland, The McIlvanney Prize and the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize:

• Bloody Scotland is Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival, providing a showcase for the best crime writing from Scotland and the world, unique in that it was set up by a group of Scottish crime writers in 2012. The festival uses a number of atmospheric, historic venues in Stirling’s Old Town setting it apart from other literary festivals.

• Over 60 entries have been received for the 2020 award. The longlist will be announced at the end of June after which a panel of judges including Karen Robinson (Editor of The Times Crime Club), James Crawford, chair of Publishing Scotland and presenter of BBC series, Scotland from the Sky, and Stuart Cosgrove, writer and broadcaster who was formerly a senior executive at Channel 4, will select the finalists. The winner of the debut prize will be selected by a panel including Lin Anderson, author and a founding director of Bloody Scotland and representatives from Waterstones and Glencairn Crystal. It is perfectly possible that a debut could also win the main prize.

• Previous winners of The McIlvanney Prize are Manda Scott with A Treachery of Spies 2019 (which she chose to share with her fellow finalists Doug Johnstone, Denise Mina and Ambrose Parry),  Liam McIlvanney with The Quaker 2018, Denise Mina with The Long Drop 2017, Chris Brookmyre with Black Widow 2016, Craig Russell with The Ghosts of Altona in 2015, Peter May with Entry Island in 2014, Malcolm Mackay with How A Gunman Says Goodbye in 2013 and Charles Cumming with A Foreign Country in 2012.