The Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story Competition Returns

The official glass for whisky, the Glencairn Glass, is once again raising a toast to crime fiction with the return of its popular annual Crime Short Story Competition.

Launching on 14 January, and in partnership with the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival, the competition invites both experienced and novice writers from around the world to submit an original crime story of under 2,000 words. The criteria this year is that the protagonist must be from Scotland. Entries close on 31 March 2026.

The overall winner will receive £1,000, publication of their story on the Bloody Scotland website, and will be offered a guest appearance at the Bloody Scotland Festival in September 2026. The runner-up will be awarded £500, with both winning stories also published on the Glencairn Glass website (whiskyglass.com).

The Glencairn Glass is no stranger to the world of Scottish crime fiction. It is produced by the award-winning Scottish family glassware business Glencairn Crystal and the company has celebrated and supported the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival since 2020 with its Glencairn Glass sponsorship of both the McIlvanney Prize for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year and the Bloody Scotland Debut Crime Novel of the Year awards.

Previous winners

Since its inception, the competition has drawn hundreds of entries from both established and emerging voices in crime fiction worldwide. For many writers, it has been a career springboard.

Allan Gaw, runner-up in 2022/23, has since achieved major success, winning the 2024 Bloody Scotland Debut Novel Prize and securing a four-book publishing deal with Polygon. Frances Crawford, the 2022/23 winner, has signed a two-book publishing deal with Penguin and sees her first novel hit the shelves in 2026. The competition’s inaugural winner, Brid Cummings (2021), went on to sign with a UK literary agency after finishing her first psychological suspense novel which has since been published by Audible. 

The judges

For the first time, this year’s judging panel includes six of the UK’s leading crime book influencers* alongside Kirsty Nicholson, Design and Marketing Manager at Glencairn Crystal.

Commenting on the competition, Kirsty said: “We’re thrilled to launch the fourth year of our short story competition with our official whisky glass, the Glencairn Glass, as we continue to support and celebrate the world of crime fiction. Each year the calibre and creativity of the entries exceed our expectations, and we’re excited to discover the new voices and gripping stories that this year’s competition will bring”. 

How to enter

All short story entries must be submitted at www.whiskyglass.com/crime-short-story-competition. The competition closes at midnight on Tuesday 31st March 2026. The winner and runner up will be announced in the summer.

Bloody Scotland’s Festival Director, Bob McDevitt, said: “We are excited to read a new crop of stories, and hope that the competition provides a stepping stone in developing the careers of some talented new voices”.

For further details about the competition please visit: www.whiskyglass.com/crime-short-story-competition

 *2026 Judges:

Kevin Woolard: Book blogger and owner of The First Eleven Minutes, an award-winning Bookstagram account.

Mary Picken: Book blogger and crime fiction critic at Live and Deadly.

Noelle Holten:  Award-winning blogger at Crime Book Junkie and crime-writer.

Sharon Bairden:  Scottish author and book blogger at Chapter In My Life with a focus on Scottish crime fiction.

Lynsey Adams: Crime noir fiction blogger at There’s Been a Murder, as well as Reading Between the Lines Book PR.

Suze Clarke-Morris: Book blogger at Suze Reviews with a focus on crime fiction.

About the Glencairn Glass:

The Glencairn Glass, produced by the Scottish family company Glencairn Crystal, is recognised as the world’s official whisky glass. This year the glass celebrates its 25^th birthday and the company now sell over 5 million glasses across international markets each year, with over 50 million glasses sold in total to date.

The competition winner and runner up will also receive a set of six bespoke engraved Glencairn Glasses.

About Bloody Scotland:

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 – Lin Anderson, Alex Gray, Craig Robertson and Gordon Brown – in 2012. Full information at bloodyscotland.com

The Bloody Scotland Prize for Scottish Crime Writing first awarded in 2012 was renamed The McIlvanney Prize in 2016. The Bloody Scotland Debut Prize was launched in 2019.