Stevens and Mason win inaugural kids awards at CrimeFest

Robin Stevens and Simon Mason have won the inaugural awards for Best Crime Novel for Children and Young Adults respectively at the annual CrimeFest Awards.

Stevens (pictured) won the first children’s award for her title Murder Most Unladylike: Mistletoe and Murder (Puffin), while Mason won the first gong honouring the best YA crime fiction for Kid Got Shot (David Fickling Books).

The category winners were among six revealed at CrimeFest convention’s gala dinner in Bristol on Sunday (21st May).

Others honoured were Clare Mackintosh for the Audible Sounds of Crime Award with I See You, read by Tachel Atkins (Hachette Audio/Isis),  Laura Lippman who bagged the eDunnit Award for Wilde Lake (Faber & Faber), Barry Forshaw who claimed the H.R.F. Keating Award for Brit Noir (Pocket Essentials) and Mick Herron for Real Tigers (John Murray), who won the Last Laugh Award.  

At the same event, Where Roses Never Die by Gunnar Staalesen and published by Orenda Books was named as winner of the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Novel of the Year.

Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett, judges Barry Forshaw and Sarah Ward said the novel was “both a coruscating and ambitious” and a “perhaps the most  accomplished entry in the long-running sequence of books about Bergen detective Varg Veum”.

The ceremony took place at the Bristol Royal Marriott Hotel to mark the climax of a convention that saw hundreds of authors, publishers, agents and lovers of crime fiction attend four days of panel discussions, author talks and interviews with award-winning, bestselling crime fiction authors. Among those who appeared at this year’s event included Anthony Horowitz, Ann Cleeves, Peter Lovesey and Martin Edwards.

CrimeFest co-director Donna Moore said: “We’re delighted this year to introduce two new awards that recognise the contribution of children’s and YA fiction to the crime genre, as well as celebrating the breadth and depth of quality in crime fiction and non-fiction. We are thrilled to have such an eclectic mixture of winners that will delight both fans and newcomers to the genre.”