RT SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2021: WINNER ANNOUNCED

The Third Day, by Kevin Donnellan, a writer and journalist from Kilbride, Co. Meath, now based in England, has won this year's RT Short Story Competition in honour of Francis MacManus. The winning story was announced this evening on RT Radio 1's Arena, as part of a special programme dedicated to this year's RT Short Story Competition and the 10 shortlisted stories and their authors.

Mam , by Sara Keating, 2020-21 DLR Writer in Residence, and Windsea, by D nal Minihane, a hotelier from Doolin, Co. Clare, were awarded joint runners-up prizes by judges, writers Lisa McInerney, Lucy Caldwell and Declan Hughes.

As the winning story, The Third Day will be read on air by anna Hardwicke at 11.20pm tonight on RT Radio 1's Late Date as part of a season of new writing on RT .

The remaining shortlisted short stories will then be broadcast in the same slot, weeknights at 11.20pm, from Tuesday 28 September to Friday 8 October inclusive. Mam will be read on air by Ingrid Craigie tomorrow night (Tuesday 28 September), while Windsea will be read on air by Aaron Monaghan on Wednesday night (29 September).

Read The Third Day here.

Read Mam here.

Read Windsea here.

All ten shortlisted short stories will also be available as podcasts on RTE.ie/Culture. Details on all ten shortlisted short stories and their authors are included below.

As winning author, Kevin Donnellan will receive a prize of 3,000, while Sarah Keating and D nal Minihane will each receive 1,500 as joint runners-up. The seven runners-up will receive 250 each.

Commenting on his winning story, Kevin Donnellan said: I wanted to write something about loneliness and anxiety and how participation in sport can help to ease it and, sometimes, serve merely to mask it.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID ABOUT THE WINNING STORY

Lisa McInerney: There's so much to admire here, not least the author's grasp on rhythm, tension and truth, which are things that are very hard to teach. But what strikes me hardest about The Third Day is how recognisable our protagonist is; I was so affected by his vulnerability, his self-delusion, his bitterness, delivered by Eanna Hardwicke's painful, poignant performance.

Lucy Caldwell: Our winning story, The Third Day , was a favourite of mine on the page, and my instinct was confirmed hearing Eanna Hardwicke's reading. He brings a real melancholy to it, but you can tell the fun he's having with it, too. The writer is so attuned to the rhythms of speech, and most brilliantly to the way group chats work: I threw up a photo but none of them took the bait. It's always tricky, especially on radio, when the listener has no control over speed, to get the right balance between a conversational tone and a propulsive plot, and The Third Day manages this effortlessly. It's also really, really funny: Auld lads like it when younger lads appreciate Phil Collins, our narrator says. It's a nuanced and searing look at a particular sort of masculinity, and at that age-old Irish devil, the drink, with a fresh and contemporary twist.

Declan Hughes: Superbly structured and framed rites of passage tale of small town winning and losing and the narrator's inability to take the win, to take yes for an answer, featuring sharp dialogue, pitch perfect narrative voice, skilfully modulated to reflect alcohol based mood swings and anxiety levels. A tour de force.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID ABOUT THIS YEAR'S COMPETITION

Lisa McInerney: It was lovely to be have the chance to read and listen to these stories, but even lovelier to be able to celebrate them with Declan, Lucy and the RTE team. Definitely a highlight of lockdown life for me - reading exciting new work, then hearing stories we'd already connected with brought into even more vivid colour by the actors' performances, and then discussing them, sharing our different perspectives on them, and together finding our way to our very worthy winner. Writers love to talk about writing, and so judging the Francis MacManus Short Story competition was a privilege and a pleasure.

Lucy Caldwell: The first, and most primal way, we encounter stories is through listening to them. The Francis MacManus Award is unique in that its stories are written not just for the page, but for broadcast, too. Listening to our shortlisted stories read aloud, I was reminded all over again of just how much a good actor brings to a piece - and how much they draw out of it. I was also reminded of how, when you read a story aloud, there is nowhere to hide - one thing that our winning stories have in common is a musicality, a fluidity, an ease of rhythm, of character, that you can hear in the actors' readings of the works.

Declan Hughes: The stories paint a picture of an anxious, unsettled country, but do so with wit and compassion, imaginative storytelling and nuanced characterisation.

Set up in 1986 to honour writer and broadcaster Francis MacManus, the RT Short Story Competition has been a critically important launch pad for new and emerging writers in Ireland. Past winners and shortlisted writers include Claire Keegan, Danielle McLaughlin, Anthony Glavin, Chris Binchy, Nuala O'Connor, Liz Nugent, Colin Walsh, Stephen Walsh and Sarah Gilmartin.

For more on the RT Short Story Competition, see www.rte.ie/writing.

ABOUT THE SHORTLISTED STORIES AND THEIR AUTHORS

The stories, selected by judges, writers Lucy Caldwell, Declan Hughes and Lisa McInerney, are (in alphabetical order):

A Hurt Like That, by Paul Boyle

Mam , by Sara Keating

Muddlers, by Gr inne O'Hare

People Over There, by Doaa Baker

The Johns, by Rachel Walshe

The Night Call, by Helen O'Neill

The Pines, by Paul Lenehan

The Third Day, by Kevin Donnellan

We Must All Be Kind, by Hugo Kelly

Windsea, by D nal Minihane

A Hurt Li

LINK:	https://about.rte.ie/2021/09/27/rte-short-story-competition-2021-winne...
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