Bloody Scotland established itself as the leading Scottish International Crime Writing Festival in 2012. Based in Stirling, Bloody Scotland, now coming up for its twelfth festival, has brought hundreds of crime writers new and established to the stage with always enthusiastic attendees who make the festival every bit as much as the writers do. Glencairn are proud of their Scottish roots and their Glencairn Glass like Scottish Crime Writing, is enjoyed around the world. When the opportunity to sponsor the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Writing and the Bloody Scotland Debut Crime Writing Prize came along – it was a natural fit for the world-famous whisky glass – the Glencairn Glass.

When Glencairn announced their sponsorship of the McIlvanney Prize and Bloody Scotland Debut Crime Writing Prize, in 2020 it was important that we added value to the sponsorship. In the first year an idea was floated. Could the shortlisted authors for the debut prize; Deborah Masson, Marion Todd, Francine Toone and Stephen O’Rourke, along with Gordon Brown (an author and one of the Bloody Scotland founding directors) write a short story between them – that included the world famous Glencairn Glass. The result was ‘One With The Glass’.