DOVE AWARD: Popular Culture Society

Here's an award that's near and dear to my heart. I received the Dove Award from the Detective/Mystery Caucus of the Popular Culture Association in 2016. The Dove Award recognizes the contributions to the serious study of mystery, detective, and crime fiction. 

This year's  (2026) recipient is Stewart King, associate professor of European Languages at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia). King, a specialist in Spanish and Catalan crime fiction, has edited or coedited 6 books (e.g., the Cambridge Companion to World Crime Fiction, 2022), produced 35 book chapters and 28 articles, as well as coedits the journal Crime Fiction Studies. He previously served on the editorial board of Clues: A Journal of Detection. 

Previous Dove honorees include Martin Edwards, Barry Forshaw, David Geherin, Douglas G. Greene, P.D. James, H.R.F. Keating, Margaret Kinsman, and Elizabeth Foxwell.

HT: Elizabeth Foxwell

The Popular Culture Association: George N. Dove Award

Congratulations, Martin Edwards, for receiving the Popular Culture Association (U.S.) George N. Dove Award. The stated mission of the PCA is 'to promote the study of popular culture throughout the world through the establishment and promotion of conferences, publications, and discussion. The PCA actively tries to identify and recruit new areas of scholarly exploration and to be open to new and innovative ideas. PCA is both inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary. Finally, the PCA believes all scholars should be treated with dignity and respect.'

The George N. Dove Award is bestowed for 'outstanding contributions to the serious study of mystery, detective, and crime fiction.' The award is named for George N. Dove, past president of the Popular Culture Association, and author of outstanding books on detective fiction.

Previous winners include Professor Doug Greene, P.D. James, H.R.F. Keating, Julian Symons, and me. I know!  I received the George N. Dove Award in 2016. Such an honor!

2017 DOVE AWARD

David Schmid, Ph.D. received the 2017 George N. Dove Award for Contributions to the Study of Mystery and Crime Fiction. David Schmid, Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University at Buffalo (State University of New York), was selected to receive the 2017 Dove Award. The honor is bestowed for outstanding contributions to the serious study of mystery, detective, and crime fiction by the Mystery and Detective Fiction Area of the Popular Culture Association. The award is named for George N. Dove, one of the area’s early members, a past president of the Popular Culture Association, and author of outstanding presentations, articles, and books on detective fiction, especially the police procedural.

The 2017 award recognizes Schmid’s contributions to many different areas of crime fiction studies, including publications, presentations, and course offerings. The author of Natural Born Celebrities: Serial Killers in American Culture (2005) and The Secrets of Great Mystery and Suspense Fiction (2016), as well as the co-editor of Globalization and the State in Contemporary Crime fiction: A World of Crime (2016), Schmid has also published numerous essays and book chapters on topics ranging from Dexter and Hannibal to issues of masculinity in the works of David Goodis. He has a variety of reference and review articles to his credit as well, and his works in progress focus on the uses of space in crime fiction and violence in American popular culture. His many public speaking engagements and conference presentations also cover a wide range of topics, and he has taught courses in crime fiction and mystery fiction at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

Not least of Schmid’s many accomplishments are his online activities: he writes a blog; posts regularly on Facebook about wide-ranging topics, including detective fiction; and manages a listserv on crime and detective fiction open to anyone interested in joining, whether academics or not. As his nominator says, David Schmid is “the type of scholar we’d like to recognize as someone who joins together interests in crime and detection as well as traditional and digital scholarship.” 

The 2017 Dove Award was announced at the Mystery and Detective Fiction Area meeting on April 14 during the PCA/ACA annual conference in San Diego.

2016 Dove Award: Janet Rudolph

I usually don't share information about myself on Mystery Fanfare, but  since I try to report all awards, I wanted to let you know how excited, honored, and humbled I am to receive this award from my academic peers.

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Janet Rudolph receives the 2016 George N. Dove Award for Contributions to the Study of Mystery and Crime Fiction 

Janet Rudolph, founder of Mystery Readers International, has been selected to receive the 2016 Dove Award. The honor is bestowed for outstanding contributions to the serious study of mystery, detective, and crime fiction by the Mystery and Detective Fiction Area of the Popular Culture Association. The award is named for George N. Dove, one of the area’s early members, a past president of the Popular Culture Association, and author of outstanding presentations, articles, and books on detective fiction, especially the police procedural.

The 2016 award recognizes Rudolph’s wide-ranging activities promoting the love of mystery and crime fiction, starting with her founding of Mystery Readers International, “the largest mystery fan/reader organization in the world,” which is open to every segment of the mystery-loving population, from readers and writers to editors, publishers, and critics. Other opportunities for mysterious encounters include, among others, the Mystery Readers Journal, which Rudolph edits and which is published four times a year; monthly Literary Salons with well-known crime writers in her own home in Berkeley, CA; and two blogs: Mystery Fanfare, which includes news, cartoons, and Rudolph’s views on mystery-related topics, and Dying for Chocolate, which features chocolate-related topics along with tie-ins to relevant mystery concerns. MRI is also known for sponsoring the annual Macavity Awards, for which members nominate and vote for books and short stories in several categories, and Rudolph’s website is a general resource for mystery lovers, with lists of mystery bookstores, mystery periodicals, and reading groups.

In addition to all of her work with Mystery Readers International, Rudolph is also one of the founders of Left Coast Crime, an annual convention of mystery readers, fans, and writers, 26 years ago and serves on the National Board. She also serves on the International Board of Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention.

As a popularizer of all things mystery-related, Janet Rudolph promotes not only the serious study of mystery and detective fiction, but also the pure enjoyment of the genre in many different forms.

The 2016 Dove Award will be announced at the Mystery and Detective Fiction Area meeting on March 25 during the PCA/ACA annual conference in Seattle (March 21-25, 2016).

Past recipients include Elizabeth Foxwell, H.R.F. Keating, P.D. James, Douglas Greene, and Frankie Y. Bailey.