TELL US YOUR (SHORT) STORIES
The 2024 RT Short Story Competition is now open for entries.
The RT Short Story Competition was set up in 1986 to honour writer and broadcaster Francis MacManus.
One of Ireland's longest established and most significant literary prizes which recognises and rewards the best new Irish fiction writing for radio, the RT Short Story Competition presents the winning author with a cheque for 5,000, while the second and third placed writers will receive cheques for 4,000 and 3,000 respectively. A further seven runners-up will receive 250 each.
Writers over the age of 18 living in Ireland, and Irish writers around the world have until Friday 10th May 2024 to submit their short story to the competition at www.rte.ie/writing.
This year's entries will be judged by a panel featuring Neil Hegarty who joins returning judges and authors Kathleen MacMahon and Claire Kilroy. Claire's latest novel, Soldier Sailor has just been longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction Prize.
Commenting on judging this year's competition, Claire Kilroy says: I was delighted to be asked back to judge this year as it was such an interesting and collegial experience last year. Bottom line: writers like talking about writing. We veered from unanimity to dissent and back again, as we worked through the stories. It was a thorough and satisfying process.
Kathleen MacMahon encourages all writers to enter: This is a wonderful opportunity for writers to have their work read out loud by actors and heard on radio by a wide audience. The quality of work we saw on the shortlist last year was an amazing testament to the robust health of Irish writing.
New judge, Neil Hegarty adds: I'm delighted to serve alongside Kathleen and Claire as a judge on this year's RT Short Story Competition. It's a privilege, of course, to read new writing - and it's always heartening to be reminded of the creativity at work in society. Do take the chance to send in your short stories: I'm looking forward to reading and admiring them.
At a special RT Arena live programme with Se n Rocks in the autumn and all 10 shortlisted stories will be published on rte.ie/culture and broadcast in a season of new writing on RT Radio 1.
The RT Short Story Competition has been championing new talent for decades; 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.
All shortlisted stories are produced for radio, voiced by some of Ireland's most talented actors. In recent years these have included Marty Rea, Aaron Monaghan, Jane Brennan, Cathy Belton, Derbhle Crotty, Eamon Morrissey, Ali White, Ingrid Craigie, Janet Moran, Kathy Rose O'Brien, Peter Coonan, Emmet Kirwan and Andrew Bennett.
For rules and all information about the competition, see www.rte.ie/writing. You'll also find past winning and shortlisted stories there.
ABOUT THIS YEAR'S JUDGES
NEIL HEGARTY
Neil Hegarty's novels include The Jewel and Inch Levels, which was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Novel of the Year award. Neil's non-fiction titles include the biography Frost: That Was the Life That Was, and The Story of Ireland, which accompanies the RT -BBC television history of Ireland. His short fiction and essays have appeared in the Dublin Review, Stinging Fly, Tangerine, and elsewhere; and he is co-editor of the essay collection Impermanence. He is a regular literary reviewer on the Irish Times.
CLAIRE KILROY
Claire Kilroy is the author of five novels. Her latest novel, Soldier Sailor, about the early years of motherhood, was published by Faber to universal acclaim and named as The Times Novel of The Year, and a best book of 2023 by The Irish Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Telegraph, The Irish Examiner, The Irish Independent, the Journal.ie and many other publications. It is currently longlisted for the 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction and the Dublin Literary Award. Kilroy won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2004 and has been shortlisted many times for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year and the Irish Novel of the Year.
KATHLEEN MacMAHON
Kathleen MacMahon is the author of four novels and numerous short stories. Her novels, which include The Home Scar (2023) and Nothing But Blue Sky (2020), have been listed for the Irish Book Awards, the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year and the Women's Prize for Fiction. Her short stories have been published in the Winter Papers, the Stinging Fly and The Irish Times, among others. Her work has been translated into over twenty languages.
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TELL US YOUR (SHORT) STORIES 
