The Edgar® Awards – Guidelines and Entry Forms

Information About 2026 Edgar® Awards
For Works Published in 2025

Entry Procedure and Forms

Please read category information for complete information. MWA will disqualify a work from consideration if it is entered in the wrong category.

Submission Details

With the exception of the Robert L. Fish, the Sue Grafton Memorial Award, the Mary Higgins Clark and the Lilian Jackson Braun awards, a work may be submitted to only one Edgar® committee. It is the responsibility of the publisher or producer to submit works to the appropriate committee. MWA will disqualify a work from consideration if it is entered in the wrong category.

One copy of each eligible work must be sent to each member of the proper committee along with a copy of the submission form.

Contact the MWA National Headquarters for a list of the judges’ names and addresses.

Do NOT include reviews or other promotional materials along with your entry.

Do NOT contact the judges regarding this or any other submission (beyond sending the books). Contacting the judges directly might make this submission ineligible for consideration.
Send the entry form if you do not use the online form (links to online forms below) to: Mystery Writers of America, 1140 Broadway, Room 907 New York NY 10001-7693. A completed entry form is required for submission.

Submission Eligibility

All works submitted for consideration must meet the requirements for Active Status membership as described in the membership guidelines. At this time, self-published work is not eligible for Edgar Award consideration. All publishers submitting work must be on MWA’s approved publisher list or otherwise qualify to be added to that list.

• While the author does not need to be a member of MWA, the work itself must make the author eligible for active status.
• Only works from a publisher on our approved list are eligible to be submitted. Publisher guidelines will be found here:  https://mysterywriters.org/how-to-become-a-member-of-mwa/approved-publishers-guidelines/. If a publisher not yet on the list qualifies to be added, they must contact the MWA national office to begin the vetting process. All such requests must be approved by the national board before the final submission deadline.
• Short stories must have paid the author a minimum of $25 to be eligible.
  For example, to be eligible for Edgar Award consideration, a short story must be published by an MWA-approved publisher and the author must have received at least $25 from that publisher in advance money or royalties before the story is submitted to MWA.

Submission Process

Works should be submitted by the publisher, but may also be submitted by the author. There is no entry fee, and no limit to the number of entries from a publisher or an individual author.

Almost all of our judges will accept books/stories in digital format. Their email addresses are noted on the Judges’ mailing list. You must send the book/story in the format as requested by the judge.

However, you MUST follow these instructions:

• use the online submission form, and email it to each judge along with digital file of the book/story. There can be NO expiration date associated with the files. Just as you would be giving them the hardcover or paperback, you are giving them the e-book without any restrictions.
• In addition, please make sure the file name is the book title, not a string of numbers. You may NOT send the judge to either Amazon, iBooks, NetGalley or Edelweiss and all digital files MUST be sent to judges “clean,” i.e. with no sales/promotion/quotes material attached.
• A few judges will accept PDF files -– check with the national office or committee chair before you send them.  The pdf may not have any watermarks, be password protected or fixed at a tiny font -– it needs to be readable. And, only the “final” book may be submitted – no advance reading copies or galleys.
• For Galleys/ARCs – absolutely NO watermarks on the pages -– it makes it almost impossible to read.
• For short stories, if you are submitting an anthology/magazine, you must email the table of contents to the national office and mark if there are stories that are either not eligible or are eligible for the Robert Fish award.
• Please note that we are now requiring that all forms have the following acknowledged:

“To ensure originality and authenticity, we require all writers and publishers submitting work to verify that the substantive content of their submission is free of AI-generated material. While AI assistive tools may be used in supportive roles—such as for copy editing, grammar checking, or formatting improvements—core elements of the submission, including narrative, thematic development, and stylistic choices, should reflect the author’s unique voice and creative work.

By submitting, you confirm that AI tools have only been used in a limited, assistive capacity and that the work remains an authentic representation of the author’s creative intent and voice.”

Instructions for Authors

• MWA prefers to have publishers submit work. This protects the confidentiality of the judging and, for work submitted in hard copy, saves the author costs.
• Authors can check the current submissions list to confirm that their work has been submitted. However, since publishers submit in batches rather than immediately, and since MWA doesn’t update the submission list daily, work may not appear immediately upon publication.
• If the publisher has not submitted a work within 60 days of the publication date, the author should  notify the MWA national office, who will contact the publisher to get the work submitted.
• If the national office cannot get the publisher to submit in a timely fashion, they will notify the author of how to submit the book/story directly.

Deadlines

We suggest that work be submitted on the following schedule to assist the judging committee. Meeting these deadlines is not a requirement for eligibility; however, it will greatly aid the judging process.

Books must be submitted during the month of publication. There is no benefit to waiting until the end of the year -– if anything that may be a hindrance to the book being fairly judged.  In addition, the book MUST arrive to the judges within 30 days of sending the submission form to the national office.  Please do NOT fill out the submission form until the book is ready to be sent to the judges.

WORKS PUBLISHED/RELEASED                      SUBMIT BY

January – March 2025                                                    April 30, 2025
April 2025                                                                          May 30, 2025
May 2025                                                                           June 30, 2025
June 2025                                                                          July 31, 2025
July 2025                                                                           August 29, 2025
August 2025                                                                      September 30, 2025
September 2025                                                               October 31, 2025
October – December 31, 2025                                       December 7, 2025

PLEASE NOTE:  Only works with a November or December release date may be submitted to judges in galley/ARC form.  All works MUST ARRIVE by the judges by December 7, 2025.  Works received after that date will not be considered for an Edgar award.  Absolutely no exceptions.

Nominations are usually announced in the middle of January (on or near Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday) of the following year and the winners are announced at the annual Edgar® Awards Banquet, which takes place in New York City in late April or early May each year.

Entry Form for Books
Entry Form for Short Stories
Entry Form for Television/Teleplay
Entry Form for Mary Higgins Clark Award
Entry Form for Sue Grafton Award
Entry Form for Lilian Jackson Braun Award