The world’s favourite whisky glass – the Glencairn Glass – is once again delving into the dark
side of crime fiction with the launch of its popular annual crime short story competition.
This year it launches on 27th October, once again in partnership with the Bloody Scotland
International Crime Writing Festival and Scottish Field Magazine, offering the winning writer a
prize of £1,000 and their story published in Scottish Field and online.
Over the last two years the competition has attracted hundreds of entries from both
experienced and novice crime writers internationally. Writers from around the world are invited
to compose their stories, in less than 2000 words, on the theme: “A crime set in Scotland” – the
competition closes on 31st December 2023.
In addition to the £1,000 prize, the winner will also see their story published in Scottish Field
Magazine in the spring. The runner up will receive a cash prize of £500. Both stories will be
published online on the Scottish Field website, as well as on the Glencairn Glass website
(whiskyglass.com).
The Glencairn Glass is no stranger to the ‘dram-atic’ world of Scottish crime fiction. The Scottish
family business Glencairn Crystal has celebrated and supported the Bloody Scotland Crime
Writing Festival since 2020 with its Glencairn Glass sponsorship of the McIlvanney Prize for the
Scottish Crime Book of the Year and the Bloody Scotland Debut Crime Novel of the Year
awards. Earlier this year a new three-year deal was agreed to secure the company’s
commitment and sponsorship until the end of 2025.

This year’s Glencairn Glass short story competition judging panel includes Callum McSorley, a
Glasgow based writer whose debut novel Squeaky Clean won this year’s Bloody Scotland
McIlvanney Prize for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year. He is joined by Kate Foster the
Edinburgh based national newspaper journalist and author, whose debut novel The Maiden
won this year’s Bloody Scotland’s Debut Prize and has become a Times and Waterstones
bestseller and Gordon Brown, author and a founding director of the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival.

All short story entries must be submitted at www.whiskyglass.com/crime-short-story-
competition. The competition closes at midnight on Sunday 31st December 2023. The winner

and runner up will be announced in March 2023.