Awards

The Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition

The Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition, established in 2003, is an annual short story competition open to writers from around the world. Submissions are accepted from 1 May – 31 July annually. Sponsored by the Munster Literature Centre, it is dedicated to one of Ireland’s most accomplished story writers and theorists. The winner receives a first prize of €2000, a featured reading at the Cork International Short Story Festival (with four-night hotel stay and full board) and publication in Southword. 

The 1st Prize winner, Jack Kennedy will read his winning story 'Snap' on Saturday 19th October. This year's judge was Camilla Grudova (who is also the 2024 recipient of the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Fellowship).

1st Prize
Jack Kennedy is from Tinnahalla, Co Kerry and currently works as a biochemist in a Dublin hospital. He has been a voracious reader all his life, gorging himself on anything he could get his hands on. In particular, he enjoys stories with dark comedic undertones, inventive use of vernacular and distinctive voice. He writes short fiction and is currently working on a novel. This is his first publication.

2nd Prize
Rowe Irvin is a writer and artist living between London and Manchester. Her debut novel, Life Cycle of a Moth, will be published by Canongate in June 2025. Rowe’s writing has been published by Prototype and Nēpenthé Press, shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize and the Bath Short Story Award, and longlisted for the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. Her collaborative publication, Quiver, made with the artist Georg Wilson, was published in 2023 with Bookworks and Berntson Bhattacharjee Gallery. Rowe is currently completing a PhD in Creative Writing, with a focus on oral tradition and folk tales, at the University of Manchester.

Shortlist
Eamon Doggett, originally from Bettystown in Meath, now lives in Galway, where he recently completed a Practice-Based PhD at the University of Galway. His short stories have been published in The London Magazine, The Irish Times, and Prick of the Spindle, among others. He won the 2019 Hennessy First Fiction Award and was the inaugural joint-winner of the Sylvia O'Brien Prize. He hopes to publish a short story collection in the near future and is currently working on a novel.
Fiona Ennis has won the Molly Keane Creative Writing Award and was one of the winners of the 2021 Fish Short Story Prize. She was awarded second place in the 2022 LA-based Screencraft Cinematic Short Story Competition. Her work has been highly commended in the Manchester Fiction Prize. Her fiction has also been shortlisted for other international awards, including the Bristol Short Story Prize, the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize and the Aurora Prize for Writing. She is the recipient of an Agility Award from the Irish Arts Council.
Dillon Jaxx is a queer writer, disabled through chronic illness. Poems have appeared online and in print including Poetry Wales, Alchemy Spoon, and Ink, Sweat & Tears. Dillon has been shortlisted and placed in various poetry competitions over the last three years including the Rebecca Swift writing prize 2022, and the Brotherton prize for emerging poets 2024. The debut collection manuscript is out there waiting for a yes. This – runner up for the Seán Ó Faoláin competition – is their first short story acceptance.
Zoë Meager is from Aotearoa New Zealand. Her work has appeared in Cheap Pop, Ellipsis Zine, Granta, Hue and Cry, Landfall, Lost Balloon, Mascara Literary Review, Mayhem, Meniscus, North & South, Overland, Splonk, and Turbine | Kapohau, among others. She’s a 2024 Sargeson Fellow.

Frank O’Connor International Short Story Fellowship

The Frank O’Connor International Short Story Fellowship is made possible through the very generous sponsorship of Cork City Council. The fellowship follows on from the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and further demonstrates the commitment of the Munster Literature Centre and Cork City Council to the short story community. Named for one of Cork’s most renowned writers, it acknowledges the special place the short story form occupies in the cultural history and contemporary practice of the city.

Camilla Grudova, the 2024 recipient of the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Fellowship will read at the festival on Wednesday 16th October.