# Mystery Writers of America

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 |

## Raven Award

The Raven Awards are recorded in the Edgars Database of the Mystery Writers of America.