The Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award is one of the UK's top crime-fiction awards, sponsored by Theakston's Old Peculier.
[1] It is awarded annually at Harrogate Crime Writing Festival in the UK, held every July, as part of the Harrogate International Festivals.
[2] The winner receives £3000 and a small hand-carved oak beer cask carved by one of Britain's last coopers.
[3] Novels eligible are those crime novels published in paperback any time during the previous year.
[4] Voting is by the public with decisions of a jury-panel also taken into account,[5] a fact not-much publicised by the award organisers, who are keen to emphasize the public-voting aspect of the award.