RTÉ Short Story Competition 2023 opens for entries

The RTÉ Short Story Competition 2023 in honour of Francis MacManus is back and is now open for entries. Writers have until Friday, May 26 to submit their short story to the competition. 

This year’s entries will be judged by Ferdia MacAnna who returns as a judge along with authors Kathleen MacMahon and Claire Kilroy, both of whom have new books out this year. 

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. 

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. 

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. All 10 shortlisted stories will be published on rte.ie/culture and broadcast in a season of new writing on RTÉ Radio 1 in the autumn. 

For competition rules, information on how to enter, and to read and listen to past winning stories, see: www.rte.ie/writing.