2021 COMPETITIONS
Listowel Writers’ Week Announce the 2021 Competition Award Recipients
Listowel Writers’ Week is delighted to announce the Award Recipients of the 2021 Competitions.
This was another great year, with many submissions on each category. The Awards Ceremony was hosted online this year. Listowel Writers’ Week would like to sincerely thank all Sponsors who supported this year’s competitions and the many competition entrants who submitted their work.
Kerry Group Novel of the Year Award 2021
– Kindly sponsored by Kerry Group PLC
Winner: BINA by Anakana Schofield
Shortlisted:
Words to Shape My Name by Laura McKenna
This Happy by Niamh Campbell
A Sabbatical in Leipzig by Adrian Duncan
Threshold by Rob Doyle
Pigott Poetry Prize Award 2021
– Kindly sponsored by Mark Pigott KBE and the Pigott Family
Winner: Collected Poems by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin
Shortlisted:
Found Architecture – Selected Poems by Sinéad Morrissey
Ourselves by Beda Higgins
Bryan MacMahon Short Story Award
– Kindly sponsored by Bill Walsh & Family, Aspire Technology Ltd
Winner: Nostos & Algos by David Wilkes
Shortlisted:
The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon by Stephen Brophy
The Butterfly Bun by Mary Lys Carbery
Sunday October 31st by Anthony O’Connor
At Sea by Brian O’Tiomain
Poetry Collection
– Kindly sponsored by Tim Costello, Profile Developments
Winner: Ore by Eoin Hegarty
Shortlisted:
After the Flight by Judy O’Kane
Variations on a Nomad Flute by Jamie O’Halloran
Wings My Father Made Me by Paul McMahon
Heartbeat of a Dead Blackbird by Eibhlís Carcione
Duais Foras na Gaeilge
– Kindly sponsored by Foras na Gaeilge
Winner: Bean-Eala by Eibhlís Carcione
Shortlisted:
Frithortha by Máire Ní Bhriain
Don Bhó by Máire Ní Bhriain
Ciúnas by Áine Ní Ghlinn
Cuairt ar an Lios by Áine Ní Ghlinn
Nilsson Local Heritage Award
– Kindly sponsored by the Nilsson Family
Winner: Deeds not Words by Martin Moore
Second Prize: The Lost Gaeltacht by Mártan John Mhailic Sheáin Leachlainn & Martin O’Halloran
Creative Writing for Adults with Special Needs Award
– Kindly sponsored by Pierse Fitzgibbon Solicitors
Winner: How was it? by Joseph Ganley
Second Prize: Red Sun over Olympus by William O’Connor
Third Prize: My Life Story by Clare Conway
Competition Sponsors
- Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award 2021. Total prize fund €17,000, kindly sponsored by Kerry Group PLC.
- Pigott Poetry Prize Award 2021. Total prize fund €14,000, kindly sponsored by Mark Pigott KBE & the Pigott Family.
- Nilsson Local Heritage Writing Award 2021. Total prize fund €1,400, kindly sponsored by the Nilsson Family.
- Bryan MacMahon Short Story Award 2021. Total prize fund €1,000, kindly sponsored by Aspire Technology Ltd – Bill Walsh.
- Duais Foras na Gaeilge Award 2021. Total prize fund €1,000, kindly sponsored by Foras na Gaeilge.
- Writing in Prisons Award 2021. Total prize fund €2,700, kindly sponsored by the Irish Prison Service, the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas & the Northern Ireland Prison Service.
- Creative Writing for Adults with Special Needs Award 2021. Total prize fund €1,000, kindly sponsored by Pierse Fitzgibbon Solicitors.
- Poetry Collection Award 2021. Total prize fund €2,500, kindly sponsored by Tim Costelloe, Profile Development, in memory of Joni Costelloe.
Details of all competition prize recipients will be announced at our virtual Awards Ceremony on June 2nd. Thank you to each creative writer who entered our 2021 Competitions. Best wishes to all!
History of ‘Writing in Prison’ Awards
Our Writing in Prisons Awards were established 42 years ago. Poet and writer Brendan Kennelly was eager to bring an element of inclusivity to the Literary Competitions. If you would like to hear more about the background to this outreach activity and source of recovery for prisoners, click here.