PRESS RELEASE
Winners of Trócaire Poetry Ireland Poetry Competition 2021 announced
Poetry Ireland and Trócaire are delighted to announce the winners of the 2021 poetry competition, which this year had the theme ‘Pathways to Peace’.
The winners and runners-up are across six categories: adult published, adult unpublished, primary junior, primary senior, post-primary junior and post-primary senior.
Jane O’Hanlon from Poetry Ireland said, “With winners from nine counties again this year, we’d like to thank everyone who entered and to those who helped and encouraged them.
“This has been a difficult year, particularly for schools which had to close again for part of the year. We really appreciate everyone – teachers, parents and young writers – for their continued interest and support for the Trócaire Poetry Ireland Poetry Competition. The adult categories this year feature Mary Turley-McGrath – a previous winner in 2014 – and the quality of the poetry is, again, superb.”
The annual poetry competition raises awareness about current global citizenship, justice, ecological and equality issues. This year’s theme explored the effects of conflict on people’s lives and how, with pathways to peace and the support of others, people can try to put the pain of conflict behind them and rebuild their lives.
As a physical awards ceremony isn’t possible due to Covid-19 restrictions, Poetry Ireland and Trócaire look forward to celebrating the winners of the competition with a streamed video event. This will take place on Poetry Ireland’s YouTube channel at 6pm on Culture Night (Friday 17 September). A booklet of the winning poems is due to be published in 2022.
Poetry Ireland and Trócaire would like to thank the judges of this year’s competition: Catherine Ann Cullen (Poetry Ireland Poet in Residence), Aidan Clifford (retired former director of the Curriculum Development Unit) and Joanne McGarry (Campaigns and Volunteer Manager at Trócaire). Many thanks also to our TY Remote Placement, Sinéad O’Reilly, a previous winner and runner-up, who provided admin support this year.
Congratulations to all this year’s winners and runners-up, and thank you to everyone who entered.
Adult Published Category
WINNER:
‘As We Were Leaving’
Attracta Fahy
RUNNER-UP:
‘Omar’s Song’
Mary Turley-McGrath
RUNNER-UP:
‘Toll Road’
Jean O’Brien
Adult Unpublished Category
WINNER:
‘The Table’
Sinéad Griffin
RUNNER-UP:
‘Féileacán’
Gormfhlaith Ní Shíocháin Ní Bheoláin
RUNNER-UP:
‘The Winding Path’
Caroline Bracken
Primary Junior Category
WINNER:
‘Every little helps’
Preksha Utekar
Primary Senior Category
WINNER:
‘Journey to Peace’
Liam York
RUNNER-UP:
‘Peace on the Horizon’
Hannah Murphy
Post-Primary Junior Category
WINNER:
‘Forgiving the past’
Naomi Wall
RUNNER-UP:
‘Running’
Cara Maguire
Post-Primary Senior Category
WINNER:
‘Hold me, my friend’
Essie Toyo Wuddah
RUNNER-UP:
‘Under Construction’
Sarah Fitzgerald
RUNNER-UP
‘Living for Light’
Varshika Mecheri
RUNNER-UP
‘I mbróga no mbochta’
Aedamar O’Callaghan
For further information, contact Lisa Jewell, Communications Manager of Poetry Ireland. Tel: 087 992 7546 or email comms@poetryireland.ie.
Poetry Ireland gratefully acknowledges the support of its principal funders The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and The Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Ends.
Bios – winners of adult categories
Attracta Fahy
Attracta Fahy’s background is Nursing/Social Care. She lives in Co Galway, works as a psychotherapist, and is a mother to three children. She completed her MA in Writing NUIG’ 17, and was October winner in The Irish Times; New Irish Writing 2019. She was nominated for Pushcart 2018, Best of the Web 2019, shortlisted for 2018 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year, and longlisted in 2019, shortlisted for Allingham Poetry Prize both in 2019 and 2020.
Attracta has been published in many magazines and journals at home and abroad, including, Poetry Ireland Review, Banshee, Stinging Fly, Orbis, Poethead, Crannóg and The Honest Ulsterman. Her chapbook was chosen by Poet Kevin Higgins as one of the best poetry books of 2020 for The Morning Star newspaper. She was recently one of ten emerging poets chosen for the first-ever Dedalus Press Mentoring Programme.
Mary Turley-McGrath
Mary Turley-McGrath has published four collections of poetry, the most recent is After Image (Arlen House, 2020). Her poems have appeared in many anthologies including The Strokestown Anthology, Reading the Future, Future Perfect, and The SHOp Anthology. Her work has also been published in Poetry Ireland Review, The Irish Times, Cyphers, and Crannóg.
She was the winner of the Trócaire/Poetry Ireland Competition in 2014; also the inaugural Francis Ledwidge Poetry Award, and was shortlisted at Listowel Writers’ Week and Cúirt. Mary holds an M. Phil in Creative Writing from Trinity College Dublin. She is a member of the Poetry Ireland Writers in Schools scheme and is working on a new collection, and a biography.
