
IMPRESSIVE STORIES EXPLORING HUMAN CONNECTION SHOW WEALTH OF WRITING TALENT IN IRELAND
WINNERS TO BE ANNOUNCED AT SPECIAL AWARDS EVENT ON FRIDAY 29TH NOVEMBER
BROADCAST ON RT RADIO 1'S ARENA ON MONDAY 2ND DECEMBER (7PM)
DETAILS: www.rte.ie/writing
TICKETS: https://www.paviliontheatre.ie/events/view/arenalive
FOLLOW: #rteshortstory
RT has announced details of the ten exciting new stories which have been shortlisted for the RT Short Story Competition 2024 in honour of Francis MacManus, from close to 1,500 entries submitted.
The judges were writers Neil Hegarty, Claire Kilroy and Kathleen MacMahon.
The shortlisted stories, in alphabetical order by story title are:
Artifice, by Sharon Guard
Chambermaid, by Fiona O'Connor
Dead Bait, by Mattie Brennan
Dessie and Hopper, by Susanne Stich
Divination, by Stephen O'Reilly
Once Upon an Algorithm, by Ryan Delaney
Planning the Leftovers, by Sheila Barrett
The Other rla, by Emer O'Toole
The Rehearsal, by Alexis MacIsaac
Turncoat, by David Ralph
***Information about the writers and their stories are included in the NOTES below, along with the RT Radio 1 broadcast schedule.
Neil Hegarty, who joined the judging panel this year said: I'm deeply impressed by the entries submitted this year. Quite simply, it's so heartening to see the sheer quality of writing on display. I'm also struck by how these stories track emotional lives in all their variety and complexity: art acts as a barometer of society, of course, but it seems to me that the RTE Short Story Competition in particular truly mirrors the preoccupations of our society in the here and now.
Fellow judge Claire Kilroy added: There were several recurrent themes: grief, sexual politics and the differences between male and female worlds
Judge Kathleen MacMahon commented that: human connection was the subject of almost every story we read this year - the need for it, the obstacles to it. In exploring this fundamental theme, this year's Francis Mac Manus finalists showed us once again the wealth of writing talent that exists in Ireland and the ever-renewing energy to explore the landscape of our lives through words.
All ten stories will be published on rte.ie/culture on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th November, and broadcast (read by actors) over the course of the following two weeks, from Monday 18th November on RT Radio 1's Late Date. They'll also be featured regularly on RT Radio 1's Arena in advance of the awards event an RT Radio 1 Arena special programme, presented by Se n Rocks at the Pavilion Theatre in D n Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, at 7pm on Friday 29th November, which all the shortlisted writers are invited to attend. The event will feature readings of extracts from all ten shortlisted stories, each followed by a discussion with all three judges before they award their top prizes.
The winning writer will receive 5,000, while the second and third placed writers will receive 4,000 and 3,000 respectively. All seven runners-up will receive 250 each.
The RT Radio 1 Arena special will be broadcast at 7pm on Monday 2nd December 2024.
Tickets for that event are now on sale here
Sarah Binchy, series producer said: This is another delightfully fresh and varied clutch of stories, with great talent and verve on display from this year's writers. We're looking forward to sharing the stories on rte.ie/culture, on air and on podcast, voiced by some of Ireland's finest actors - and gathering in person with the judges, writers and audience members to award the top prizes as part of the Arena short story finale in the Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire on Friday 29th November.
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, Molly McCloskey, Danielle McLaughlin, Anthony Glavin, Chris Binchy, Nuala O'Connor, Liz Nugent, Colin Walsh, Stephen Walsh, Austin Duffy and Sarah Gilmartin.
The RT Short Story Competition is free to enter, and open to any writer over 18 living on the island of Ireland, or living abroad who holds an Irish passport. Details of next year's competition will be announced in early 2025. For more on the RT Short Story Competition, see www.rte.ie/writing.
ENDS
For information: Neil O'Gorman, Corporate Communications Manager, RT | E: neil.ogorman@rte.ie
NOTES TO EDITORS
ABOUT THE WRITERS AND STORIES (Alphabetical order by writer's first name)
ALEXIS MACISAAC (Irish Canadian, living in Ottawa)
Alexis MacIsaac is a dual Irish Canadian citizen whose writing has been featured in Masks Literary Magazine (2023 story award winner), The Bookends Review, and Agnes and True, among others. She previously toured as a musician with Irish shows Riverdance and The High Kings. Now, she works in the civil service in Domestic Oceans Policy and lives in Ottawa with her husband, Calum, and two sons, Cillian and Rafferty. She is currently working on her first novel.
The Rehearsal
This story is meant to be read as a kind of Rorschach test. In particular, I wanted to explore how men and women can sometimes view the world very differently, and how this difference in perception often exposes the tenuousness of human connection.
DAVID RALPH (Tipperary, living in Dublin)
David Ralph is originally from Tipperary and now lives in Dublin. His stories and essays have been published in Dublin Review, Southword, Banshee, New Irish Writing, Litro, Fish Anthology, Channel. He won a New Irish Writing Award in 2020 and placed third in the 2022 Fish Memoir Prize. He works as an academic in Trinity College Dublin.
Turncoat
Turncoat is about a man who has acted against
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
07/05/2026
At Broadcast Asia 2026 (Stand 5H3 8), LiveU is redefining live production with its most powerful IP-video EcoSystem to date built to help broadcasters and con...
07/05/2026
January 8, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), a leader in high-performance, on-s...
07/05/2026
February 9, 2024
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning pioneer i...
07/05/2026
March 20, 2024
NAB 2024, Las Vegas - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-awa...
07/05/2026
April 1, 2025
CINEMACON, APRIL 1, 2025 - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming syste...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), an Academy and Emmy Award-winning de...
07/05/2026
June 15, 2025
Colorfront participated in the ICTA Barcelona Cinema Technology Summit on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Held at The Phenomena Experience, the event feat...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
July 1, 2025
Passion and dedication will take you places. Come with us on a short trip to the heart of India, where Annapurna Studios is living-up to the inspi...
07/05/2026
July 3, 2025
Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...
07/05/2026
September 1, 2025
IBC 2025, Amsterdam - Colorfront (colorfront.com) - the Acade...
07/05/2026
April 17, 2026
LOS ANGELES - April 17, 2026 - Colorfront today announced Colorf...
07/05/2026
April 23, 2026
NAB 2026, Las Vegas - the Academy and Emmy Award-winning develop...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Recreating the 1974 Doctor Who Time Tunnel in After Effects
Graham Quince May 6, 2026
0 Comments
The Time Tunnel from Doctor Who titles is one of th...
07/05/2026
Well known Irish faces pushed to the edge in new series of
Uncharted with Ray G...
07/05/2026
RT will premiere A Traveller Family, a compelling new documentary exploring the...
07/05/2026
Less typing, more tanking.
Faster logins mean more time in the gaming action - and this week provides GeForce NOW members with a smoother path straight into th...
06/05/2026
Gravity Media Chief RF Communications Engineer Glenn Willems uses Wisycom RF over Fiber and wireless solutions across major cycling events and international mar...
06/05/2026
A Sennheiser Spectera module is now available in Bitfocus Companion and Buttons, enabling direct integration of Spectera with the two software platforms. The mo...
06/05/2026
Ted Turner, the visionary media entrepreneur whose appetite for disruption helpe...
06/05/2026
Peacock is going all-in on the beautiful game - streaming all 104 FIFA World Cup...
06/05/2026
New pricing tiers for vocal/dialogue restoration tool
NoiseWorks Audio's AI-powered vocal and dialogue processing plug-in is now available in three diff...
06/05/2026
Popular mixing & routing software overhauled
Following a recent public beta test, RME have launched the final release version of the powerful mixing and rou...
06/05/2026
New SOS Video Feature
Focusrites ISA C8X is a milestone product that brings together the companys analogue heritage and their expertise in digital audio. Yo...
06/05/2026
Polands Miecznik-class frigates are part of the largest contract in Polish shipbuilding history. (Image Credit: PGZ Stocznia Wojenna)...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Riedel Communications today announced the expansion of its leadership structure as part of a strategic initiative to strengthen both its operational management ...
06/05/2026
For nearly three decades, Veteran Production Sound Mixer and Five-time Emmy Award Winner Dirk Sciarrotta has helped define the sonic identity of the long-runnin...
06/05/2026
ZEISS CinCraft LensCore: Cinema Lens Looks for Compositing
Brie Clayton May 6, 2026
0 Comments
ZEISS announces the launch of CinCraft LensCore, a nove...
06/05/2026
Wisycom Solves Extreme RF Challenges Across Miles of Live Action for Gravity Med...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
06/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...