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.
Launched 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:
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