Writing Competition
What It Is
Welcome to the PSWA Writing Competition. Our annual competition recognizes members’ best writing—long and short-form, published and non-published, fiction and non-fiction. Over the years, the Competition has become one of the most prestigious in the crime fiction field. A panel of independent judges determines Bronze, Silver, and Gold Medallion winners in multiple categories, and the winners are announced at PSWA’s Annual Conference in July. We also recognize high-quality writing across categories through the Marilyn Meredith Excellence in Writing Award and high-quality book design through the Best Book Cover award.
Submission guidelines are detailed on the entry form, on this page.
Who Can Enter
To be eligible for the current year’s competition, entrants must be members in good standing of the Public Safety Writers Association (PSWA). Entries must be the member’s original work and must include a public safety element (plot, character, etc.). Published books must bear a copyright date of the previous year, and may not have been previously entered. For example, works published in 2025 are eligible for the 2026 competition.
The Selection Process
Our judges are experts in the crime fiction field, including authors, journalists, and editors. Published books are judged by people who are not PSWA members. For all other categories, the judges are members of the Association. Judging is blind (that is, entries are identified only by a number), except for published books, for which that is not possible. Judges score entries on relevant criteria for that category and a total score is recorded.
Past Writing Competition Winners
Click here to see the list of past winners.
The Award
Winning authors receive a printed award certificate, bearing a gold, silver, or bronze medallion sticker, plus three additional stickers they may want to place on their books. (Additional stickers may be purchased at $1 each.) PSWA also can supply a .jpeg or .png file of the sticker art for future printed book covers. While submitting authors are encouraged to attend the awards ceremony at the annual conference, they need not be present to win.
How to Submit
Forms: Each submission must be accompanied by a completed entry form, which contains additional instructions.
Fees: Each entry also requires an entry fee: $30.00 for the first entry, $20.00 for each additional entry by the same author. Entrants may pay by check made out to Public Safety Writers Association (PSWA) or by credit card using PayPal. If entering multiple works, one check or PayPal payment can cover all fees.
Timetable: the submissions window opens January 1, and all entries must be postmarked by March 31.
Competition Categories
Both published and nonpublished books are eligible for PSWA Medallion Awards.
Book-length Fiction
Because the crime fiction genre is so broad, the fiction entries are divided into several major categories, each eligible for Gold, Silver, and Bronze medallion awards. The entry form asks authors to identify which category they are entering:
Police Procedural: A novel emphasizing the steps the police use to solve a crime.
Thriller: Thrillers create a roller-coaster of strong emotions—anxiety, surprise, anticipation, and the like. There are legal, medical, espionage and other types of thrillers.
Suspense (including romantic suspense and paranormal stories): An uncertain outcome, especially for a sympathetic main character, typifies a suspense novel.
Mystery (including cozy mystery): Mysteries are more of mental game, focused on finding the solution to a puzzling crime, situation, or circumstance. Cozy mysteries have little graphic violence or sex, and typically involve an amateur sleuth.
Other: A novel that includes elements of the above categories but is more properly in the Science Fiction or Fantasy genres or intended for a Young Adult, Middle Grade, or Children’s audience.
Book-Length Memoir
Unpublished Books: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Memoir
Short Fiction
- Short story (25,000 words or less)
- Flash Fiction (500 words or less)
- PSWA 100 (100 words exactly, not counting the title)
Non-Fiction (entries must have at least 501 words)
- Technical entries emphasize equipment or processes
- Non-technical entries emphasize people and events (includes memoir)
Other works, such as poetry or screenplays