After sponsors like Vodafone, The Economist, Principal Mutual Funds and Standard Chartered, the15th Crossword Book Awards would continue to see Raymond group as its title sponsor for the 5th year in a row. The event is being organised on 18 January 2018 at Mumbai's Royal Opera House in association with Kotak Mahindra Bank and is being managed by Wizcraft International.

Instituted in 1998, The Crossword Award is an Indian book award hosted by Crossword Bookstores with the intention of competing with the likes of internationally acclaimed The Booker Prize or The Pulitzer Prize.

Some of the previous winners of the award include Salman Rushdie, William Dalrymple and Vikram Seth among others since the inception of the awards twenty years ago. The Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred upon Ruskin Bond in 2016.

Nominations for the awards follow a two pronged approach and are on the basis of sale of books as tracked by Crossword bookstores across the country and also a public poll.

This year the event is being organised on 18 January 2018 at The Royal Opera House in Mumbai. The event will be managed by Wizcraft International, a pioneer in the events, activations and exhibition space.