We are delighted to announce the winners of the All Ireland Scholarships Creative Writing Competition 2025 in both the prose and poetry categories.
Thank you to all Alumni who entered and congratulations to the winners and runners-up. We would like to thank our fantastic judging panel for giving their time and expertise.
You can read the winning pieces below.
“Wonderfully written and instantly engaging with an ability to conjure both poignantly and accurately the atmosphere of a hospice. An outstanding piece.”
Judges compared the writing to John Boyne's 'A History of Loneliness;' “There is rhythm to this writing. It's simple and unadorned, and the ending is so moving.”
“A charming, heartfelt writing style, capturing so much about the frightening love parents feel for their children.”
"With its powerful depth of feeling, evocative imagery, lovingly crafted couplets and satisfying rhythmic variation, Raspberries unanimously emerged as the winning poem.”
“In second place, Clementime, spoke to us both with its memorable, quotable lines, and its vivid, almost tangible, clementines – the perfect objective correlative for quite particular, yet nonetheless transient feelings.”
“In third place, a profound sense of nostalgia, beautifully rendered in the particularities of place and set in Paris, the most poetic city in the world. We were struck by how neat internal and slant rhymes, stood out in La Petite Ceinture.”
