RTÉ SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2023 WINNERS ANNOUNCED  

 ‘MR HOO’ BY JOHN O’DONNELL WINS FIRST PRIZE OF €5,000  

“It’s a fabulous thing to read and fall in love with a story” – Judge, Ferdia MacAnna  

‘TESSA AND VIVIANE’ BY JULIE CRUICKSHANK WINS SECOND PRIZE OF €4,000  

‘BREATHE’ BY ROBIN LIVINGSTONE WINS THIRD PRIZE OF €3,000  

AT SPECIAL LIVE EVENT AND LIVE ON AN ARENA SPECIAL ON RTÉ RADIO 1  

www.rte.ie/writing | www.rte.ie/Culture | #rteshortstory 

‘Mr Hoo’ by John O’Donnell, “an exquisite and touching story about an easily-led, bird-loving young fellow’s trip to the dark side – and subsequent redemption,” in the words of the judges, has been announced as the winning story in this year’s RTÉ Short Story Competition in honour of Francis MacManus. The announcement was made at a special RTÉ Radio 1 Arena RTÉ Short Story Special live programme hosted by Sean Rocks in the Pavillion Theatre Dun Laoghaire and broadcast live on RTÉ Radio 1. 

The winning stories were selected by writers Ferdia MacAnna, Kathleen MacMahon and Claire Kilroy. 

As winner, John O’Donnell received a cheque for €5,000. 

Second Prize went to ‘Tessa and Viviane’ by Julie Cruickshank who was presented with a cheque for €4,000, while Third Prize went to ‘Breathe’ by Robin Livingstone who was presented with a cheque for €3,000. The seven runners-up received €250 each. 

Commenting on this year’s judging, Kathleen MacMahon said: “Choosing the winner from the richness of the ten stories on the shortlist was daunting, but it was storytelling that prevailed in the end – these three came closest to perfection.” 

Ferdia MacAnna said: ‘This is my second stint as a judge and once again it was a privilege to dive headlong into new work by so many talented writers. It was illuminating to hear the works brought to vivid technicolour life by the reading of talented actors. The 10 shortlisted stories are composed with craft, wry wit, insight, humour and originality as well as fearless storytelling. If there is a theme in these marvellous visions, then in my view it’s this: the stories chronicle aspects of LOVE in so many of its shapes and forms. Beautiful, touching, funny, well-crafted visions of imagination and beauty. Long Live Love.’ 

Claire Kilroy said:”It was thought-provoking and fascinating and a thoroughly satisfying experience.  As writers, we came to this with different tastes. Yet, when we sat down to judge the written stories, we were unanimous in our verdict, and when we came together a second time to discuss the recorded stories, we were again unanimous. I loved the process because it proved that literary quality shines.”  

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID ABOUT ‘MR HOO’ 

Ferdia MacAnna said: “This is the work of a talented, visionary writer. The gullible protagonist ‘Bird’ is a truly memorable creation. I didn’t want this story to finish.” 

Kathleen MacMahon said: “An exquisite story, it had everything I want as a reader. From the little bit of mystery at the beginning (Mr Hoo?) to the lovely voice of the boy and his romantic notions. I enjoyed the raucous wit, the comedy, and the tension. There’s depth in the story, when the mother tells him he’s a good boy – I found that very moving. And of course, it lands with the most beautiful image at the end. A beautiful story of a good lad who seeks flight but gets caged. We all loved this story, so it was easy to choose it as the winner.” 

Claire Kilroy said: “It’s exhilarating to see a story built around a metaphor, that of a bird, which is sustained beautifully but never overplayed, and lands in the closing lines with such grace.” 

WHAT KATHLEEN MacMAHON SAID ABOUT ‘TESSA AND VIVIANE’ 

“This story is brilliantly crafted, taking the mother’s life backwards from her first appearance as a very boho corpse, to her final apparition as a little girl untouched by life. The daughter is lost and looking for purpose, but even this is denied by the mother’s precipitous death. The daughter’s voice is sassy and unsentimental. I loved the mother’s voice too, in all its colour. The little details are beautifully observed. The story of a complicated life, it rings gloriously true.” 

WHAT CLAIRE KILROY SAID ABOUT ‘BREATHE’ 

This writer has an uncanny ability to alight on details that are so authentic as to put the reader there.  He has imagined himself fully into his young protagonist’s shoes – or his boots, rather, his red Doc Marten boots of which he is so proud.  With exceptional pacing, the reader (or listener) is hurtled from the young man’s body into his head as he panics on the operating table.  In capturing the claustrophobia of a being unable to breathe, the writer captures the claustrophobia of Belfast during the riot years.   

ABOUT THE AUTHORS OF THE PRIZEWINNING STORIES 

First Prize: Mr Hoo 

John O’Donnell is a writer and a lawyer. His work has been published and broadcast in Ireland and abroad. Awards include the Irish National Poetry Prize, and the New Irish Writing Awards for Poetry and Fiction. He has published five poetry collections. His collection of short stories Almost the Same Blue was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. Rainbow Baby, a play for radio, was broadcast on RTE’s Drama On One and won a prize at the New York Festivals Radio Awards. He lives and works in Dublin.  

About the story: John says: “Mr Hoo is loosely based on a real case; I still remember the late Professor Nial Osborough recounting the grisly facts to us in First Year Criminal Law. As a kid, the need to belong is overpowering; you’ll do nothing your parents ask of you, but you’ll do anything for your friends.”  

Second Prize: Tessa and Viviane 

Originally from Galway, Julie Cruickshank lives and works in Dublin. This is her third time to be shortlisted for this competition; she was previously shortlisted for Beneath the Trees, Where Nobody Sees in 2020, and last year with The Coast of Africa.  

About the story: Julie says: “I thought about writing a ghost story originally, but not a scary one, and it occurred to me that the most persistent, nosy and irritating ghost of all would be a mother.  I became more forgiving of the mother character as I wrote and I identified more with her as the story emerged, how, like many women, she muddled along, doing the best she could, in difficult circumstances.”  

Third Prize: Breathe 

Robin Livingstone has been a journalist on a local newspaper in Belfast for 35 years, covering a wide range of issues during the worst years of the conflict and latterly in times of relative peace. He also pens a weekly newspaper diary in which he takes a light-hearted view of the stories in the news. He has a passion for Irish wildlife and the outdoors and is greatly attached to his blackthorn and binoculars. He is married with three children and is currently besotted with his first granddaughter.  

About the story: “I was a young journalist around the time that plastic bullets started to take their deadly toll and have both personal and professional experience of the devastation wrought by a supposedly ‘non-lethal’ weapon. It’s an issue that has stayed with me as I’ve grown older.”  

ABOUT THE SHORTLIST 

Ten exciting new stories were shortlisted for this year’s RTÉ Short Story Competition in honour of Francis MacManus 2023, from more than 1,700 entries. 

You can read and listen to all shortlisted stories on https://www.rte.ie/culture/rte-short-story-competition-2023/. You can also read what the judges said about each of the stories below. 

The 10 shortlisted stories (in alphabetical order, by title) were: 

• Artificial Intelligence for Psychotherapists, by Ilona Adams – read by Camille Lucy Ross 
• Breathe, by Robin Livingstone (Third Place) – read by Marty Rea 
• It All Began with the Turlough, by Caoimhín Gaffney – read by Aaron Monaghan 
• Mr Hoo, by John O’Donnell (Winner) – read by Emmet Farrell 
• Off Season, by Jamie Samson – read by Rory Nolan 
• On Craigavon Bridge, by Peter McCauley – read by David Pearse 
• Tessa and Vivianne, by Julie Cruickshank (Second Place) – read by Janet Moran 
• The Turkish Rug, by Natalie Ryan – read by Andrew Bennett 
• The Warbler, by Caitríona McArdle – read by Elaine O’Dwyer 
• You, by Nadine O’Regan – read by Kathy Rose O’Brien 

The stories were broadcast at 11.20pm each night on RTÉ Radio 1 from Monday 16th October as part of Late Date with Cathal Murray and Fiachna Ó Braonáin. Readers on this year’s series include Marty Rea, Aaron Monaghan, Janet Moran, Elaine O’Dwyer and Camille Lucy Ross. The stories also regularly featured on Arena with Seán Rocks, leading up to tonight’s Arena RTÉ Short Story Competition live event. 

Set up in 1986 to honour writer and broadcaster Francis MacManus, the RTÉ Short Story Competition has been a critically important launch pad for new and emerging writers in Ireland. Past winners and shortlisted writers include Claire Keegan, Danielle McLaughlin, Anthony Glavin, Chris Binchy, Nuala O’Connor, Liz Nugent, Colin Walsh, Stephen Walsh, Austin Duffy and Sarah Gilmartin. 

For more on the RTÉ Short Story Competition, see www.rte.ie/writing.