GLOBAL REACH OF FESTIVAL EVIDENT IN AWARD ENTRIES
ENNISCORTHY Town Manager Liz Hore was on hand at the Athenaeum on Sunday to present the first ever Literary Shop Window Display Award to winners Kilcannon who created a stunning Alice In Wonderland design.
In an effort to create awareness of the Festival and involve the whole town in the committee decided to introduce a Literary Shop Window Competition, asking the Enniscorthy business community to create a window display inspired by their favourite book, play or poem. And Liz Hore said the windows created were imaginative, beautiful and fun and gave a vintage feel to the town for the festival.
John Kelly said that the standard of the Anthony Cronin Poetry Award was exceptional with 184 entries from all around the world and he called on special guest Bibi Baskin to present certificates and trophies to the winners: Joe Neal for Allegheny Man and Aaron Corless for Inside the Wall, and Gráinne Daly for To Lady And To Tramp.
Adele O’Neill said that the entries for the Colm Toibin Short Story Award definitely had an international appeal with stories coming from Israel, Canada, America, Belguim, Germany, the UK and all over Ireland and the quality of the submissions was so good that we would be looking to publish at least the short listed in an anthology later in the year.
The Colm Toibin Short Story Award was won by Sally Jubb with Horses, second place went to Rose Stevens for Variable Stars - both ladies are from the UK and weren’t able to make it but 3rd prize winner Helen Lahert for Aliens was on hand to accept her prize from Bibi Baskin along with the rest of the short listed including Lorcan Byrne, Pamela Hobbs for Time Heals, Tricia Hagan for Bitter Truth, Robert Barrett for The Handshake Men, Anne O’Leary for A Simple Loss of Balance, Niamh MacCabe for To Memorise a Skylark and The Sniper by Michelle Coyne.