Limerick Writers’ Centre announces that entries for The Gerald Griffin Competition for First Original Adult Fiction 2025 are now being accepted.
The competition incorporates a four-week course for aspiring writers of longer fiction, conducted by poet and novelist Ciaran O’Driscoll. Aspiring authors are invited to submit 1500 to 2000 words, the beginning of a piece of fiction, as a prerequisite for participating in the upcoming novel/ novella writing course, to be conducted over four Saturdays in February 2025 in Limerick. After the submissions are assessed ten writers will be invited to join the course, with a participation fee of €95.00.
During the course Ciaran O’Driscoll will provide mentorship, guiding participants in all aspects of writing fiction, with the end goal for each participant of crafting a 15,000 word initial manuscript. Following the course, six selected participants will be invited to submit a completed work (30,000 words minimum) for adjudication. What is meant by a ‘completed work’ is that it would be appropriate to write THE END after the very last line of the manuscript.
The writer of the most promising novel/novella, as judged by Ciaran O’Driscoll and an external invited judge, will have their work published by Limerick Writers’ Centre in Oct/Nov 2025, as part of their community publishing programme.
The closing date for initial submissions (no fee payable) is Sunday 26th Jan 2025.
Key Terms and Conditions
The competition is open to any writer of any nationality or residency. Submissions must be original and begun either in the first submission of 1500/2000 words or in the initial manuscript of 15.000+ words. The idea here is for each final participant to have a dynamic act of creation in progress from the start, rather than merely listening to lectures on how to write.
The work must be submitted in English. No previously published work should be submitted, nor should any previous unpublished manuscript. Entries must be online and we accept Word docs, docx and pdf files. No entry fee is required for the initial submission of 1500/2000 words.
Submissions should be emailed to limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com Closing date for entries is Fri 21st Jan 2024.
About Ciaran O’Driscoll
Ciaran O’Driscoll lives in Limerick and is a member of Aosdána. He has published ten books of poetry, the most recent being Angel Hour (2021), a childhood memoir titled A Runner Among Falling Leaves (2001), and two novels A Year’s Midnight (2012), and The Golden Ass (2024).
About Limerick Writers’ Centre
The Limerick Writers’ Centre was founded as a not-for-profit organisation in 2008 to support and promote writers from or living in Limerick through readings, workshops and publishing activities. Guided by a voluntary board of directors, the Centre has been a driving force, bolstering the literary community in Limerick and surrounding area.
About Gerald Griffin
Our competition is named after one of Limerick’s most illustrious writers Gerald Griffin (1803-1840). Novelist, poet and playwright he was the author of The Collegians, which was based on the gripping story of The Colleen Bawn, involving the murder of a young Irish Catholic girl (Ellen Hanley) by a Protestant Anglo-Irish man (John Scanlon). The book later became a literary sensation and inspired a stage play, a musical adaptation and a silent movie Lily of Killarney. Griffin’s novel, which transposed its setting from Limerick to Killarney, played a pivotal role in propelling the Killarney tourist industry. Interestingly, the book was cherished by none other than the American poet Walt Whitman.
For further information, media inquiries, or further competition details, please visit www.limerickwriterscentre.com or contact: Dominic Taylor at limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com
Rules
- The competition is open to writers of any nationality or residency over the age of 16.
- Entries should be completely the entrant’s own work written in English, original, unpublished, and not entered into any other competition, nor submitted for publication, or another award which overlaps with this competition. (No simultaneous submissions).
- One entry per person. Submissions must be original fiction, i.e. neither a reprint nor adaptation of a previously-published work – (including on any website, public blog, online forum or broadcast medium).
- Entries must be between 1,500 and 2,000 words long, no other lengths will be judged.
- Entries should be typed on a Word document in Arial font size 12, in double spacing, with consecutively numbered pages and submitted as a Word doc or PDF file.
- Submissions should be sent only via email to limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com. All entry submissions will be acknowledged by AUTOMATIC email. No other form of communication will be undertaken.
- No entry fee is required for the initial submission.
- Ten submissions will be chosen to progress to the second phase. They will be the ones who are deemed to have written the Best Beginning of a novel/novella (1500 to 2000 words).
- In the second phase, the writers of the ten best submissions will be offered places on a four week course on the Art of Writing a
Novel/Novella, for a fee of 95 Euro. During this phase, the successful candidates will be expected to advance their work
significantly, and to a minimum of 15,000 words. - The third phase will be the completion of the novel/novella, during which time mentoring will be available if required. Novels/Novellas will then be submitted to the judges for final adjudication.
- The finished novel/novella will then be judged by a male (Ciaran O’Driscoll) and female (to be (announced) novelist of note, and the winning entry will be published by Limerick Writers’ Centre Publishing. as part of their community publishing programme.
- The deadline for submissions is (IRISH TIME (GMT) 12.00) Sunday 26th, 2025.
NOTE: Pseudonyms are not allowed. Apart from the original
submission of 1500/2000 words the novel/novella should be
written during and following the four-week course. There will be
flexibility to modify or exclude the original 1500/2000 words.
The organisers reserve the right to discontinue/cancel the
competition if not enough entries of sufficiently high standard
are received.
FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THE RULES WILL RESULT IN
DISQUALIFICATION