The Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City.
The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday.
It presents the Edgar Award, a small bust of Edgar Allan Poe, to mystery or crime writers every year. It presents the Raven Award to non-writers who contribute to the mystery genre. The category of Best Juvenile Mystery is also part of the Edgar Award, with such notable recipients as Barbara Brooks Wallace having won the honor twice for The Twin in the Tavern in 1994 and Sparrows in the Scullery in 1998, and Tony Abbott for his novel The Postcard in 2009.
John Dickson Carr, who also served as president of the MWA, won a Grand Master Award in 1949 and 1962.
Grand Master Award The Grand Master Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Mystery Writers of America. It recognizes lifetime achievement and consistent quality. (The award was presented irregularly up to 1978; from 1979 to 2008, it was given to one writer each year. Since 2009, as many as three authors have been honored annually.)
In 2018, the Mystery Writers of America announced that it would honor best-selling author and former prosecutor Linda Fairstein with one of its Grand Master Awards for literary achievement. But two days after controversy erupted in connection with her alleged role in the Central Park jogger case, the organization withdrew the honor.
Year Recipient(s) 1955 Agatha Christie 1958 Vincent Starrett 1959 Rex Stout 1961 Ellery Queen 1962 Erle Stanley Gardner 1963 John Dickson Carr 1964 George Harmon Coxe 1966 Georges Simenon 1967 Baynard Kendrick 1969 John Creasey 1970 James M. Cain 1971 Mignon G. Eberhart 1972 John D. MacDonald 1973 Judson Philips Alfred Hitchcock 1974 Ross Macdonald 1975 Eric Ambler 1976 Graham Greene 1978 Daphne du Maurier Dorothy B. Hughes Ngaio Marsh 1979 Aaron Marc Stein 1980 W. R. Burnett 1981 Stanley Ellin 1982 Julian Symons 1983 Margaret Millar 1984 John le Carré 1985 Dorothy Salisbury Davis 1986 Ed McBain 1987 Michael Gilbert 1988 Phyllis A. Whitney 1989 Hillary Waugh 1990 Helen McCloy 1991 Tony Hillerman 1992 Elmore Leonard 1993 Donald E. Westlake 1994 Lawrence Block 1995 Mickey Spillane 1996 Dick Francis 1997 Ruth Rendell 1998 Elizabeth Peters 1999 P. D. James 2000 Mary Higgins Clark 2001 Edward D. Hoch 2002 Robert B. Parker 2003 Ira Levin 2004 Joseph Wambaugh 2005 Marcia Muller 2006 Stuart M. Kaminsky 2007 Stephen King 2008 Bill Pronzini 2009 James Lee Burke Sue Grafton 2010 Dorothy Gilman 2011 Sara Paretsky 2012 Martha Grimes 2013 Ken Follett Margaret Maron 2014 Carolyn Hart Robert Crais 2015 Lois Duncan James Ellroy 2016 Walter Mosley 2017 Max Allan Collins Ellen Hart 2018 Jane Langton William Link Peter Lovesey 2019 Martin Cruz Smith 2020 Barbara Neely 2021 Charlaine Harris Jeffrey Deaver 2022 Laurie R. King 2023 Michael Connelly Joanne Fluke 2024 Katherine Hall Page R. L. Stine 2025 Laura Lippman John Sandford 2026 Donna Andrews Lee Child
Raven Award
The Raven Awards are recorded in the Edgars Database of the Mystery Writers of America.
See also The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time, selected by active MWA members in 1995 Crime Writers' Association Crime Writers of Canada Mystery Writers of Japan Swedish Crime Writers' Academy
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