RTÉ SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2025 - RULES AND REGULATIONS
1. To be eligible to enter this competition, you must be over 18 (on or before the competition closing date), and must be resident on the island of Ireland, or, if living abroad, hold an Irish passport. Proof of nationality and/or residency may be requested of shortlisted writers.
2. Only one entry per person is permitted. If more than one story is submitted, only the first story received will be considered.
3. Entries, in Irish or English, must (i) be original, fictional and entirely your own work; (ii) not infringe the copyright or any other rights of any third party; (iii) not be defamatory of any person or corporate body; (iv) not be under consideration elsewhere for the duration of this competition's judging process, up to the announcement of the shortlist in autumn 2025, and not have been previously broadcast or published, including online, and (v) be suitable for broadcast by RTÉ to a general audience: so excessive use of bad language, for example, should be avoided.
4. Your story's wordcount must fall between 1800 and 2000 words, excluding the title. Shortlisted stories will be recorded, published and broadcast exactly as submitted beyond obvious typographical errors, without any opportunity for further revision from you. So only submit your story when you are satisfied it is free from errors.
5. The competition is judged anonymously. To avoid disqualification you must ensure that your name does not appear anywhere on your story itself, but only on the postal form or online entry form where requested. RTÉ will only ever use personal details for the purposes of the competition.
6. You may enter the competition by two means only: at the online Submittable form or by post. Neither email entries nor hand-delivered entries will be accepted.
Postal entries must be accompanied by an entry form, which you can download shortly at rte.ie/writing. Or, to receive a printed entry form in the post, email: fmacmanusstories@rte.ie, or leave a message at (01) 208 3277 with your name, phone number and postal address, and request to be sent a form. Postal entries should be typed, double-spaced on one side only of A4 paper, with pages numbered, laid out in such a way that no sentence runs over from one page to the next, and sent, with a completed entry form, to: The RTÉ Short Story Competition in honour of Francis MacManus, Radio Centre, RTÉ, Donnybrook, Dublin. You should retain a copy of your entry as RTÉ cannot return scripts.
7. The closing date is Friday 23 May 2025. Postal entries received by us up to and including that date will be accepted. The deadline for online entries is midnight Irish time on Friday 23 May 2025. This is a strict deadline; no exceptions will be made. Entries successfully submitted online will receive an automated acknowledgement to the email address provided. RTÉ will not acknowledge receipt of postal entries and does not accept any responsibility for late, lost or damaged entries. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.
8. The judges' decision is final and RTÉ will not enter into correspondence concerning any entry.
9. By submitting an entry for the competition, you hereby acknowledge and agree that the winning entries and any other shortlisted entry may be read out and reproduced and broadcast (in whole or in part) on RTÉ’s radio services and via the RTÉ website and online services (including RTÉ Radio Player) as well as featured in an RTÉ podcast available for download from RTÉ and other third party platforms. You also acknowledge that the winning entries may be used by RTÉ for publicity purposes around the competition and published in full or as an extract in print or online (including without limitation RTÉ Guide, RTÉ website and other third party platforms). Entry to the competition constitutes acceptance of these terms. By submitting a story, you agree that in the event of being shortlisted or winning the competition, you will consent to RTÉ identifying you as the author for publicity purposes to promote the competition.
10. Employees of RTÉ are not eligible to enter the competition.
11. All 10 stories will be broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1. The winners of the top three winning stories will receive prizes of €5000, €4000 and €3000 respectively; the other shortlisted authors will each receive a fee of €300. The prizes will be announced at an awards evening in the autumn, which all ten shortlisted writers are invited to attend. The date of this event will be flagged well ahead of time on our website.
12. You acknowledge and agree that to the extent permitted by law, RTÉ will not be liable for any loss or damage (whether such damage or losses were foreseen, foreseeable, known or otherwise) including financial and/or reputation and/or disappointment, suffered by you for entering the competition or as a result of your story being a winning entry.