I’m delighted to tell you I’ve been shortlisted for the Author of the Year category in the inaugural ITV Crime Thriller Awards – details of which are in the press release below.
One of you kind readers sent me an email of commiseration when I failed to win the Theakstons Crime Thriller Of The Year Award – the third consecutive event for which I had been shortlisted and did not win, telling me I must be feeling a bit like Martin Scorsese, forever being nominated for an Academy Award and not winning! Another of you, and very rightly, in my view, wrote to me that to be on the shortlist, is to be a winner. I totally agree with that!!!!
Here is the press release below:
ITV3 announces first nominees for inaugural ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards
ITV3 today announces the first nominees for the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards, a glittering event at London’s Grosvenor Hotel on the 3rd October. The awards ceremony will celebrate the crème de la crème of crime fiction with awards focusing on the best of British and International crime thriller novels. The Crime Thriller Awards are the culmination of a 7 week Crime Thriller Awards Season of programming which begin on Monday 18th August with Profiling Ian Rankin.
The three award categories which are announced today are the Author of the Year, the International Author of the Year and the Breakthrough Author Award.
The Author of the Year nominees are:
Peter James (Not Dead Enough, Pan), Robert Harris (The Ghost, Hutchinson), Lee Child (Bad Luck and Trouble, Bantam) and Ian Rankin (Exit Music, Orion).
The nominees for International Author of the Year are:
Jeffrey Deaver (The Sleeping Doll, Hodder & Stoughton), Steig Larsson (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Quercus), Karin Slaughter (Skin Privilege, Arrow) and PJ Tracy (Snow Blind, Penguin)
Breakthrough Author Award nominees are:
Chelsea Cain (Heartsick, Pan), Stuart MacBride (Broken Skin, Harper), Michael Robotham (Shatter, Sphere) and Anne Zouroudi (The Messenger of Athens, Bloomsbury)
During September we will also be announcing nominees for awards celebrating crime thrillers on screen – including the Best New Film, Best New UK TV Drama, Best New US TV Drama, Best Actresses in Film/TV and Best Actor in Film/TV.
At the awards ceremony, as well as the winners of the awards above we will also announce the first three entries into the Crime Thriller Hall of Fame – three authors who throughout their illustrious careers have represented the pinnacle of the crime thriller genre.
Each award of the evening will be presented by celebrity faces with a connection to the world of crime fiction – from celebrated authors to actors whose portrayals are admired the world over.
Running up to the glittering ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards will be six weeks of the greatest of crime dramas. Each week will begin with a specially commissioned documentary profiling the six best crime writers working today. The six authors who have been chosen are Colin Dexter, Ian Rankin, PD James, Lynda La Plante, Val McDermid and Ruth Rendell. Viewers of ITV3 will then be able to vote between these authors to select the author who will win the first ITV3 Writer’s Award for Classic TV Drama.
The documentaries will introduce the viewers to the personalities behind the shows, their writing methods, and the fabulous lifestyles their success has bought them. Each documentary will be followed by the very best episodes of the crime shows that came from these great writers.
Many participating retailers will be mounting displays and supporting the season in-store throughout September, including WHSmith, Waterstones, Borders, TESCO etc. It is likely to be the most successful campaign in terms of promoting Crime and Thriller writing that there has ever been.
ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Season & Crime Thriller Awards are commissioned by Claire Zolkwer, Commissioning Editor, Entertainment on behalf of Emma Tennant, Controller of ITV3 and CITV. The Executive Producer is Amanda Ross and the series is Produced by Gareth Jones.