TELL US YOUR (SHORT) STORIES 

The 2025 RTÉ Short Story Competition is now open for entries 

Recognising and rewarding the best new Irish fiction writing for radio 

Short story deadline Friday 23rd May 

RTÉ is inviting entries to one of Ireland’s longest established and most significant literary prizes, the RTÉ Short Story Competition in honour of writer and broadcaster, Francis MacManus. 

Free to enter, the popular competition recognises and rewards the best new Irish fiction writing for radio and presents the winning author with a cheque for €5,000, while the second and third placed writers will receive cheques for €4,000 and €3,000 respectively. A further seven runners-up will receive €300 each. 

Writers over the age of 18 living in Ireland, and Irish writers around the world have until Friday 23rd May 2025 to submit their short story, in English or Irish, to the competition at www.rte.ie/writing. Story wordcounts must fall between 1800 and 2000 words, excluding the title. 

This year’s entries will be judged by Neil Hegarty, Tristan Rosenstock and Jan Carson, who will be talking to Seán Rocks on Arena, RTÉ Radio 1, on Thursday 27 March about what they’re looking for in this year’s entries. 

Returning judge Neil Hegarty says: “It’s the unexpected thoughts and connections that interest me. We all aim as writers for this time of flow, when we write and write: and then afterwards, we sit back and marvel at the words that have appeared on the screen or the page, at the thoughts and images that we hardly knew – that often we simply didn’t know – were in our heads. And now there they are, our words manifest, as if by magic. 

“And it seems to me that we can put ourselves in the way of this flow of magic by resolving to write about what interests us and then seeing where this resolve will take us. I felt this sparkle of magic last year. It was such a privilege to judge the 2024 competition – and I’m very much looking forward to the 2025 edition. It will be a pleasure to read your work.” 

Talking about the uniqueness of this competition, new judge Tristan Rosenstock adds: “What makes this competition so special is that the short stories that reach the shortlist will be both heard and read. As you’re writing your story, read it aloud. If a sentence feels clunky as you read it be sure it won’t land well on the ear… Watch out for over-populating your story and try to put manners on your characters (even the brats) to ensure they’re not all talking at one another. Even Cillian Murphy would struggle to read lots of dialogue between multiple characters. Your story must engage the ear, and also keep eyes glued to the page. No pressure, then. Ádh mór!” 

Also joining the judging panel this year, Jan Carson explains what she is looking for in a short story: “A deftness of touch regarding language. The understanding that a prose fiction sentence, like a line of poetry, should carry meaning and also sing. Characters who, however unlikable, are nevertheless worthy of the reader’s time. A narrative which feels fresh and uniquely told. Discombobulating twists and revelations, which may shock but never surprise… 

If you’re listening [to a story on the radio], you’re conspiring with the story. Here, the voice is sacrosanct. It must feel as if you’re enjoying an intimate moment, just you and the oracle in your ear.” 

Producer of the competition, Sarah Binchy, says: “This is an excellent opportunity to get your work seen and heard by a wide audience, and by publishers and agents, who pay close attention to our lists. It’s free to enter, the prizes are substantial, and the chance to hear your story performed by a leading actor is a particular bonus offered by this competition. We’re consistently heartened by the energy, verve and range of talent on display in the shortlist year by year, and are very much looking forward to reading your stories.” 

The winning stories will be revealed at a special RTÉ Arena live programme with Seán Rocks in the autumn and all 10 shortlisted stories will be published on rte.ie/culture and broadcast in a season of new writing on RTÉ Radio 1. 

The RTÉ Short Story Competition has been championing new talent for decades; past winners and shortlisted writers include Claire Keegan, Danielle McLaughlin, Anthony Glavin, Chris Binchy, Nuala O’Connor, Liz Nugent, Austin Duffy, Colin Walsh, Stephen Walsh and Sarah Gilmartin. 

All shortlisted stories are produced for radio, voiced by some of Ireland’s most talented actors. In recent years these have included Marty Rea, Aaron Monaghan, Jane Brennan, Cathy Belton, Derbhle Crotty, Eamon Morrissey, Ali White, Ingrid Craigie, Janet Moran, Kathy Rose O’Brien, Peter Coonan, Emmet Kirwan and Andrew Bennett.  

For rules and all information about the competition, see www.rte.ie/writing. You’ll also find winning and shortlisted stories from previous years there. 

Pictured are last year’s winners: Winner, Mattie Brennan (centre) for his short story ‘Dead Bait’, second placed, Stephen O’Reilly (left) for his short story, ‘Divination’ and Emer O’Toole who took third prize for her short story, ‘The Other Órla’.

ENDS 

For information: 

Neil O’Gorman | Corporate Communications Manager, RTÉ | E neil.ogorman@rte.ie  

ABOUT THIS YEAR’S JUDGES 

Neil Hegarty’s novels include The Jewel, and Inch Levels, shortlisted for the Kerry Group Novel of the Year award. Neil’s non-fiction titles include the biography Frost: That Was the Life That Was, and The Story of Ireland, which accompanies the RTÉ-BBC television history of Ireland. His short fiction and essays have appeared in the Dublin Review, Stinging Fly, Tangerine, and elsewhere. He is co-editor of the essay collection Impermanence, and is a regular literary reviewer on the Irish Times. 

Tristan Rosenstock is a broadcaster with RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, where he presents the arts series An Cúinne Dána. His debut Irish-language book for young readers Inis Mara was selected for World Book Day 2024, and Inis Mara 2 was recently published by LeabhairCOMHAR. He is co-editor of Inside Innti – A new wave in Irish Poetry (Cork University Press) and is literary editor of the magazine Comhar. He sits on the boards of Irish Writers Centre and Poetry Ireland. 

Jan Carson is a writer based in Belfast. She is the 2025 Seamus Heaney Centre Fellow at Queen’s University and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Author of three novels and three short story collections, she won the EU Prize for Literature for Ireland for her novel The Fire Starters. Her work has been published in numerous journals and broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 and BBC Radio 3 and 4. Her next novel, Few and Far Between, is forthcoming from Doubleday in 2026.