BAD Sydney Crime Writers Danger Awards Entry 2025

ENTRIES NOW OPEN FOR THE 2025 DANGER AWARDS

BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival is pleased to announce that entries for the 2025 Danger Awards are now open.

Now in their eighth year, the Danger Awards continue to honour books featuring Australia as a setting for stories about crime and justice. At BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival in September 2025, four awards will be presented: one for Best Debut Crime Fiction, one for Best Crime Fiction, one for Best Crime Non-Fiction and once again, thanks to the generous sponsorship of OverDrive Australia, the People’s Choice Award will be presented covering all three categories. 

A good crime story always has a strong sense of time and place. Whether this be a rural township experiencing drought as in Jane Harper’s The Dry or the busy inner-city streets of Sydney in the 1960s as in Amanda Hampson’s The Tea Ladies, such stories extend our knowledge and understanding of the world while drawing attention to ongoing questions of social justice.  

The Chair of BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival, Sue Turnbull says “Australian publishing is surfing a wave of outstanding writing about crime that is increasingly attracting international attention. The Australian crime scene has never been more vigorous or diverse”. 

The Danger Awards will be presented by the 2024 winners on September 13 during this year’s BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival. The 2024 winners were Amanda Hampson with The Tea Ladies for Best Crime Fiction and Kerryn Mayne with Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder for Best Crime Fiction Debut. Nick McKenzie was awarded Best True Crime for Crossing the Line and Tim Ayliffe won the People’s Choice Award with Killer Traitor Spy.  

• Entries open: 15 April
• Entries close: 16 May
• Shortlist announced: 25 July
• People’s Choice Voting Opens: 30 July
• People’s Choice Voting Closes: 1 September
• Winner announced: 13 September
• Entry fee: $33 

In addition to the Danger Award trophy, each winner will receive $1000 in prize money, (presented at the Danger Awards night) and will be invited to speak at BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival 2026.

For more information and prize guidelines please visit www.badsydney.com 

For any further enquiries, please contact Grace Kopsiaftis: media@badsydney.com 

For media enquiries please contact Debbie McInnes at DMCPRMEDIA

T: 02 9550 9207 | 0412 818 071 | E: debbie@dmcpr.com.au