The RTÉ Short Story Competition 2023 in honour of Francis MacManus is back and is now open for entries. Writers have until Friday 26th May to submit their short story to the competition.
Since its inception over 35 years ago, the RTÉ Short Story Competition has been a critically important launch pad for new and emerging writers in Ireland. Set up in 1986 to honour writer and broadcaster Francis MacManus, the competition recognises and rewards the best new Irish fiction writing for radio. The competition is free to enter and attracts thousands of entries every year.
This year's entries will be judged by writer and filmmaker, Ferdia MacAnna who returns as a judge along with acclaimed authors Kathleen MacMahon and Claire Kilroy.
The winning author will receive €5,000, while the second and third placed writers will receive €4,000 and €3,000 respectively. A further seven runners-up will receive €250 each.
A shortlist of ten stories will be announced in September, and the top prize winners will be announced on an Arena special programme later in the autumn, broadcast live from the Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire.
The RTÉ 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 and Sarah Gilmartin.
Last year’s winner was Brendan Killeen for his short story, Big Why, Little Why - listen below.
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All shortlisted stories are produced for RTÉ Radio 1 and voiced by some of Ireland’s most talented actors. In recent years these have included Cathy Belton, Eamon Morrissey, Ali White, Ingrid Craigie, Janet Moran, Kathy Rose O’Brien, Emmet Kirwan and Andrew Bennett.
Series producer Sarah Binchy said: "This is a great opportunity for anyone serious about their writing, and almost 40 years on, being placed in this competition in honour of Francis MacManus has become a kind of rite of passage for Irish writers. There's no entry fee, the prize fund is substantial, and you have the chance to have your work read and heard widely on RTÉ Radio 1 and Rte.ie/culture. A particular pleasure unique to this competition is to hear what an experienced actor can do with your words. We look forward very much to this year’s stories."
The RTÉ Short Story Competition - what the judges are looking for
Ferdia advises prospective entrants to: "Give me conflict, atmosphere, a curious, significant setting. Character driven dialogue along with a brisk pace. Intrigue, surprise and enthral. Keep the reader at least one step behind. In other words, a tale needs to be unpredictable or at least, artfully disguised so it feels as though we are participating in an unravelling, a revelation."
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Listen to the 2021 winner, Kevin Donnellan's The Third Day
Kathleen says that: At the risk of stating the obvious, a short story should have a narrative arc, however small. The short stories I love best are the ones that turn on a moment of significance in a person’s life. In some ways, the smaller the moment the better. I’m thinking of the Kevin Barry story, Across the Rooftops. It’s only a few pages long, but there’s great drama to it, as a summer crush draws towards its moment of truth on a Cork city rooftop at dawn.
For Claire: "The one thing I need to happen with a short story is to end up in a different place to where I started, to experience a perspective shift. It doesn't have to be a huge movement but I want to go somewhere, or to be brought. Insight, I suppose you might call it. Joyce termed it the epiphany. Writing an epiphany, of course, is no simple feat, and there are no instructions on how to accomplish this, but that's the glorious game that is writing."
For competition rules, information on how to enter, and to read and listen to past winning stories, go here.
