Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

OVER 4,000 entries to RT Short Story Competition 2020 - A new record

13/07/2020

We Irish have an obsessive need to tell stories - Madeleine Keane

You're looking for someone who can make an entire world in 2,000 words - Vincent Woods

The familiar world around us suddenly looked very strange - Danielle McLaughlin

www.rte.ie/writing

RT has received a record number of entries, over 4000, to this year's RT Short Story Competition, one of Ireland's longest established and most significant literary prizes, in honour of Francis MacManus.

Previously open to postal entries only, the competition opened to online entries also in late March in response to Covid restrictions. By the closing date in May, 4073 entries had been received- far surpassing the 2,300 submissions received for last year's competition.

Definitely, lockdown is a factor in these very strong numbers , said Sarah Binchy, producer of the RT Short Story Competition. People who might have always thought about entering, suddenly had the time to write. Then, being able to submit online makes it that bit easier to enter, particularly for contestants abroad. We've had entries coming in from Irish writers in all four corners of the globe, which is great to see. It's impressive to see such focus and creativity on the part of all these entrants, whether in Ireland or abroad, at a time of great stress and anxiety in the wider world.

The panel of three judges met on Friday 3rd July to begin the process of shortlisting the stories to a final 10 nominees which will be produced for radio, and announced in early September. The shortlist of 10 stories will be announced in early September on rte.ie/writing, and a virtual awards ceremony in RT will follow later that month, where the top three prize winners will be announced.

This year's judges are: editor, lecturer and journalist, Madeleine Keane; award-winning short story writer and previous prize-winner of the RT Short Story Competition, Danielle McLaughlin; and writer and broadcaster, Vincent Woods.

cof_vivi Previous prize-winner and judge for 2020, Danielle McLaughlin, says: This competition offers writers a great opportunity to reach such a large audience. And at a time when the familiar world around us suddenly looked very strange and inspired so many people to write stories, it really is wonderful for those writers to think that the story they have written at the kitchen table, maybe over several months, and invested so much in has the opportunity to be listened to by so many people all over the country.

The overall winner will receive 3,000, while 2,000 and 1,000 will be awarded to the second and third place prize winners respectively. A further seven runners-up will receive 250 each. All 10 short stories in the shortlist will be broadcast in a season of new writing on RT Radio 1 in the autumn and will feature in an RT podcast. The top three prizewinning stories will also be published on thejournal.ie, and all 10 stories will subsequently be published on rte.ie/culture.

The RT Short Story Competition has been championing new talent for decades with the winning and shortlisted short stories being produced for radio broadcast and voiced by some of Ireland's most talented actors of the stage and screen. In recent years these have included Peter Hanly, Ali White, Emmet Kirwan, Cathy Belton, Ingrid Craigie, Denis Conway, Andrew Bennett, Caitr ona N Mhurch , Kathy-Rose O'Brien, and many more.

Free to enter, the RT Short Story Competition is open to anyone over 18 living on the island of Ireland, or living abroad who holds an Irish passport. Next year's competition will open for entries in spring 2021.

About the RT Short Story Competition

A competition for original short stories for radio was first established in 1986 in memory of Francis MacManus (1909-1965), the Kilkenny-born novelist, biographer and former Head of Talks and Features at Radio ireann. Since its establishment, the competition has been a launching pad for many writers who have gone on to receive national and international acclaim, including Claire Keegan, Molly McCloskey, Anthony Glavin, Danielle McLaughlin and Nuala N Chonch ir.

The RT Short Story Competition in honour of Francis MacManus is produced by Sarah Binchy.

About the judges

Danielle McLaughlin

Danielle McLaughlin's short story collection, Dinosaurs on Other Planets, was published in 2015 by the Stinging Fly Press. Her stories have appeared in the Stinging Fly, The Irish Times, Southword, and The New Yorker and have been broadcast on RT Radio 1 and BBC Radio 4. In 2019, she was a Windham-Campbell Prize recipient, and won the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award. Her first novel, Retrospective, will be published in 2021.

Vincent Woods

Vincent Woods is a writer and broadcaster whose plays include At the Black Pig's Dyke, Song of the Yellow Bittern and A Cry from Heaven; and for radio, The Leitrim Hotel, The Gospels of Aughamore and Broken Moon. Poetry collections are The Colour of Language and Lives and Miracles. Recent publications include Leaves of Hungry Grass: Poetry and Ireland's Great Hunger (Quinnipiac University Press) and Borderlines (with Henry Glassie). Awards include the Stewart Parker Award for Drama and The Ted McNulty Award for Poetry. He has scripted and presented many arts programmes and documentaries on RT Radio 1. He directs the Iron Mountain Literature Festival in Leitrim. Vincent lives in Dublin and is a member of Aosd na.

Madeleine Keane

Madeleine Keane is an editor, lecturer and journalist. She was educated at UCD and Trinity. She joined the Sunday Independent in 1988 and has been its Literary Editor for the last 18 years. She regularly writes about books, arts and travel. She has broadcast on tv and radio about books and p
LINK: https://about.rte.ie/2020/07/12/over-4000-entries-to-rte-short%e2%80%a...
See more stories from rte

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

31/07/2026

Early Registration Opens for the 2026 SMPTE Media Techno...

SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today opened early registration for the 2026 Media Technology Summit (MTS) and announced i...

31/07/2026

Central Christian Church Connects Remote Production Teams...

Clear-Com announced that Central Christian Church has transformed communication across its live production operations by implementing Clear-Com's LQ Seri...

31/07/2026

Haivision To Feature Makito ONE, Falkon X4 At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

31/07/2026

ABC Stations Tout Community Support for License Renewals

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

31/07/2026

Finalists Announced for IBC2026 Innovation Awards

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

31/07/2026

IBC2026 Innovation Awards finalists unveiled honouring co...

IBC has unveiled the finalists for the IBC2026 Innovation Awards, recognising collaborative projects from around the world that solve real-world challenges and ...

31/07/2026

From focus puller to colourist

From focus puller to colourist Caroline Shawley July 30, 2026 0 Comments Ana Mar a Ormaza shares her story of instinct, storytelling and finding a cre...

31/07/2026

Amazon Prime Documentary Andata e Ritorno Relies on Blackmagic Design

Amazon Prime Documentary Andata e Ritorno Relies on Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton July 30, 2026 0 Comments DaVinci Resolve Studio and Blackmagic Clou...

31/07/2026

Krotos Launches Video to Sound Plugin for DaVinci Resolve

Krotos Launches Video to Sound Plugin for DaVinci Resolve Brie Clayton July 30, 2026 0 Comments AI-assisted workflow helps editors add synchronized, p...

31/07/2026

Half-Year Report on SES's Liquidity Contract

Luxembourg, July 31, 2026 - Pursuant to the liquidity contract entered into by SES with BNP Paribas as of 7 April 2026, please see the below update on the progr...

31/07/2026

SES Publishes FY2025 EU Taxonomy Restatement

Luxembourg, July 31, 2026 - SES today published a restatement of its FY2025 EU Taxonomy (Article 8) disclosure. The restatement updates the FY2025 EU Taxonomy d...

31/07/2026

Mercedes-Benz Ireland returning as the official car partner of The Traitors Ireland

RT Commercial has today announced Mercedes-Benz Ireland will return as the offi...

31/07/2026

RT Supporting the Arts is supporting 15 cultural events nationwide this August

RT Supporting the Arts is delighted to spotlight a diverse range of arts, culture and heritage events taking place across Ireland this August. From major festi...

30/07/2026

CP Communications Provides Broadcast Support for 2026 MLB All-Star Week in Philadelphia

CP Communications provided RF audio, RF video, communications, RF coordination, ...

30/07/2026

OpenDrives Named to 2026 CRN Storage 100 List

OpenDrives has been included in CRN's 2026 Storage 100 list in the Software-Defined Storage category. The annual list, selected by the CRN editorial team, r...

30/07/2026

SES Selected by LATAM Airlines for Multi-Orbit Satellite Connectivity

LATAM Airlines has selected SES to provide multi-orbit inflight connectivity to its fleet of Airbus and Embraer aircraft. More than 60 aircraft - including Airb...

30/07/2026

Tagboard Launches Producer API with Elgato Stream Deck Integration

Tagboard has launched the Producer API, an open interface that allows key commands in Tagboard's live production environment to be triggered from external d...

30/07/2026

FOX Sports Adds Del Mar to Horse Racing Coverage in Multi-Year Deal

FOX Sports and the New York Racing Association (NYRA) have announced a multi-year agreement with Del Mar Thoroughbred Club that will make FOX Sports the exclusi...

30/07/2026

ABC Commercial Launches Four FAST Channels on LG Smart TVs

ABC Commercial has launched four free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels on LG Smart TVs across North America, Great Britain, and select countrie...

30/07/2026

Six Kings Slam Returns to Netflix in October with Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic

The Six Kings Slam exhibition tennis tournament will return to Riyadh on October 21, 22, and 24, streaming live on Netflix at no additional cost to subscribers....

30/07/2026

Central Christian Church Uses Clear-Coms Gen-IC to Connect Remote Production Teams

Central Christian Church in Mt. Vernon, Illinois has deployed Clear-Com's LQ...

30/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Releases UltraStudio Express 3G Capture and Playback Devices

Blackmagic Design has released the UltraStudio Express 3G family, a pair of USB4 capture and playback devices compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux computers ...

30/07/2026

ESPN Secures Media Rights to Womens Pro Baseball League

ESPN has reached a media rights agreement with the Women's Pro Baseball League (WPBL), making ESPN the national streaming home of the league's 2026 seas...

30/07/2026

Most Valuable Promotions and Professional Fighters League Merge

Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) and the Professional Fighters League (PFL) have announced a merger that will operate under the MVP banner. PFL CEO John Martin wi...

30/07/2026

Columbus Blue Jackets To Simulcast TV and Radio Broadcasts Beginning 2026-27

The Columbus Blue Jackets will simulcast all game broadcasts across television and radio beginning with the 2026-27 NHL season. Under the new format, the televi...

30/07/2026

TMRW Sports Selects Populous To Design Professional Flag Football Stadium

TMRW Sports has selected Populous as architect for a purpose-built stadium for its professional flag football league, being developed in partnership with the NF...

30/07/2026

SiriusXM Launches Sports Pass Subscription at $5 per Month

SiriusXM has announced SiriusXM Sports Pass, a new subscription plan launching September 1 that bundles the company's sports audio programming into a single...

30/07/2026

SVG Cloud & Content Workflows Summit Focuses on Live Production, Content Management, AI

Leagues, broadcasters, and technologists gather to tackle cloud economics, distr...

30/07/2026

AWSs Jason Dvorkin on the Power of AWS Elemental Inference, Agentic AI in Live Sports Production

A major player in the cloud-based solutions, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has conti...

30/07/2026

Minnesota Timberwolves Ink Local-Media-Rights Deal With DAZN

The NBA will provide production for all local game broadcasts, including pregame and postgame coverage...

30/07/2026

Cosm Detroit To Open September 10

Cosm will open its fourth immersive sports and entertainment venue in downtown Detroit on September 10. Located at 25 Cadillac Square, adjacent to Campus Martiu...

30/07/2026

NFL Network Added to ESPN App Beginning July 30

NFL Network will be available on the ESPN App beginning July 30 for Unlimited plan subscribers. The addition brings NFL Network's live games, studio program...

30/07/2026

NEP Platform Adds Riedels SimplyLive Production Suite

NEP Group has added Riedel's SimplyLive Production Suite to NEP Platform, giving customers access to the live production software through NEP's orchestr...

30/07/2026

SUNDANCE INSTITUTE NAMES TRISTA SCHROEDER GENERAL COUNSEL & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

LOS ANGELES, CA, July 30, 2026 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announce...

30/07/2026

Waves release Atlas Reverb

A new take on classic algorithmic reverbs Waves have just introduced a new flagship algorithmic reverb plug-in that offers the company's take on the ico...

30/07/2026

Arturia's Summer Sale now live

Save up to 30% on virtual instruments & plug-ins Arturia have recently launched their annual Summer Sale, which sees discounts of up to 30% applied across a...

30/07/2026

SSL unveil the Odyssey console

ActiveAnalogue technology powers new flagship modular console A year on from the launch of the Oracle, SSL have revealed a new flagship console which they s...

30/07/2026

DT 275 Pro from beyerdynamic

Up to 22dBA of passive attenuation The latest arrival to the beyerdynamic range introduces a new compact monitoring headphone that's been designed to ta...

30/07/2026

Apprenticeship success at SGL Carbon in Meitingen

As part of its traditional graduation ceremony, SGL Carbon honored the achievements of a total of twelve young professionals who successfully completed their ap...

30/07/2026

Premiere date revealed for SBS Original drama The Airport Chaplain, starring Hugo Weaving and Shabana Azeez

Premiere date revealed for SBS Original drama The Airport Chaplain, starring Hug...

30/07/2026

TVNZ Works with Evergent to Successfully Debut New Stream...

TVNZ and Evergent are celebrating a major TVNZ milestone - the evolution from a free-to-view, ad-supported business into a hybrid model, offering premium sport...

30/07/2026

WebMiere Adds Native VP9/AV1 WebM/MKV Import to Adobe Premiere Pro

WebMiere Adds Native VP9/AV1 WebM/MKV Import to Adobe Premiere Pro Brie Clayton July 29, 2026 0 Comments Brought to you by KawaiiEngine, WebMiere is a...

30/07/2026

Comments on FCC License Renewals for ABC Stations Top 150,000

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/07/2026

CW Sports Live Streaming to Launch Aug. 4 on the ESPN App

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/07/2026

Fox Advertising, iSpot Expand Measurement Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/07/2026

GlobalM Expands Software-Defined Media Platform for Cloud...

At IBC2026, GlobalM will showcase the latest evolution of its software-defined media platform, enabling broadcasters, telecom operators and media organisations ...