The world’s official whisky glass celebrates the double winner of this year’s Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Awards – Scotch Whisky News
The world’s official whisky glass celebrates the double winner of this year’s Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Awards
Frances Crawford, the winner of both the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize and McIlvanney Prize, was presented with a giant Glencairn Glass trophy.
It has been a year of firsts for this year’s Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival which has been sponsored by the world’s official whisky glass, the Glencairn Glass, for the last seven years. It’s the first year Bloody Scotland had an all-woman shortlist for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize. The first year four of those women made it onto the longlist for the McIlvanney Prize and now – for the first time ever – the same author has won both The Bloody Scotland Debut Prize and the McIlvanney Prize.
Congratulations to Frances Crawford whose novel A Bad, Bad Place (Transworld) has swept the board this year, only two months after picking up the McDermid debut prize at Harrogate. Frances was presented with a giant Glencairn Glass trophy at the Bloody Scotland Festival in Stirling over the weekend (18th – 20th September).
Kirsty Nicholson, Marketing Director at Glencairn – sponsors of The Bloody Scotland literary prizes with The Glencairn Glass, said:
‘This has been a truly remarkable year of firsts for Bloody Scotland and we are delighted to celebrate Frances Crawford’s extraordinary achievement. Winning both the Debut and McIlvanney Prizes is an incredible accomplishment and a testament to her exceptional storytelling talent. It is particularly wonderful to see Frances’ journey come full circle, having won our Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story Competition in 2023. A huge congratulations on this well-deserved success – we cannot wait to see what comes next!’
Frances Crawford started writing late in life. She secured a scholarship to study Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow and credits her tutor, Louise Welsh, with encouraging her to take her short story and develop it into a novel. She graduated aged 60 with MLitt (Distinction). The short story won the Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story competition in 2023. A Bad, Bad Place was published to great acclaim in February 2026 and will be published in paperback on 31 December.
Both of the prestigious literary prizes are awarded as part of the annual Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival which takes place every 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.
For further details visit: www.bloodyscotland.com and www.whiskyglass.com
About Glencairn Crystal:
The award-winning Glencairn Crystal Studio has been at the cutting edge of high-quality decanter and glassware design, innovation, and creativity for over four decades. Regarded internationally as one of the finest crystal decanter and glassware specialists, the family run Scottish company has hand crafted prestigious decanters often for the rarest and most luxurious spirits ever released.
Glencairn Crystal also produces the Glencairn Glass which is recognised as the world’s official whisky glass. The glass recently celebrated its 25th birthday and the company now sell over 5 million glasses across the globe each year.
Last year, Glencairn Crystal was honoured with the Kings Award for Enterprise – the fourth time in the company’s history it has been awarded this prestigious accolade. The business was recognised for its excellence in the category of Innovation.
