In the first of our interviews with authors shortlisted for the 2021 HWA Crown Awards, Historia talks to Ellen Alpsten, whose novel, Tsarina, is in the running for a Debut Crown Award. It retells the ‘ultimate Cinderella’ story of the tumultuous rise of a peasant girl, Marta Helena Skowrońska, who became first the wife of […]
Awards
See who has been achieving recognition for their historical writing, including awards from the Historical Writers Association and others.
The HWA Crown Awards shortlists 2021
The 2021 HWA Crown Awards shortlists are out! We’re delighted to announce the 18 outstanding books which have gone forward for consideration for this year’s Crown Awards, with six books in each of the three categories: HWA Gold Crown, HWA Non-fiction Crown and HWA Debut Crown. HWA Gold Crown shortlist 2021 V For Victory by […]
The HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition 2021 shortlist and winner
The HWA and the Dorothy Dunnett Society are delighted to announce the shortlist and winner for the 2021 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition! Six stories were shortlisted and the winner and highly commended entries were selected from these. Winner His Mother’s Quilt by Naomi Kelsey A gothic gem. A woman trapped in bed fights the […]
HWA Crown Awards 2021: the longlists
We’re delighted to announce the HWA Crown Awards longlists for 2021: 36 books celebrating the best in historical writing, fiction and non-fiction, of 2020-2021. There are three awards categories: HWA Gold Crown, HWA Non-fiction Crown, and HWA Debut Crown. The books longlisted for the HWA Crown Awards for 2021 are: Gold Crown Award 2021 longlist […]
The Race by Alice Fowler (the 2020 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story winner)
We’re delighted to publish The Race by Alice Fowler, the winner of the Historical Writers’ Association Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Prize for 2020. The judges praised the “sheer brilliance” of the premise and her “mastery” in “building atmosphere that tracks with the story’s mounting tension”. We hope you enjoy it, too. And the 2021 HWA/DD […]
The HWA Crown Awards in an unusual year
This year’s HWA Crown Awards coverage in Historia has an exciting boost: guest contributions by four students from Bath Spa University who are studying publishing and journalism. They add fresh voices to Historia’s content and we hope that working with us will be useful to all four of them in their future careers. Our first […]
Historia interviews, 2020 Crown Awards shortlists: Jung Chang
Jung Chang, the historian whose acclaimed family biography, Wild Swans, has been translated into 37 languages but is banned in her native China, is shortlisted for the 2020 HWA Non-fiction Crown Award for Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister. Her book explores the lives of the influential Soong sisters, Ei-ling, Ching-ling and May-ling; three remarkable […]
The winners! The HWA Crown Awards 2020
At last, the winners of the HWA Crown Awards for 2020 are announced! After months of reading and making tough decisions, the judges have chosen the winners of the HWA Gold, Non-fiction and Debut Crown Awards out of a very strong submissions list. HWA Chair Imogen Robertson says: “We’re so sorry we aren’t able to […]








