The Desmond O’Grady International Poetry Competition 2025 – Entries Open.

The Desmond O’Grady International Poetry Competition 2025 – Entries Open.

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The Desmond O’Grady International Poetry Competition 2025

CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES IS MIDNIGHT SATURDAY 15th MARCH 2025

The Desmond O’Grady International Poetry Competition was inaugurated in 2012 by the late Barney Sheehan – poetry impresario of the White House Poetry Revival – in honour of Limerick poet Desmond O’Grady. The Limerick Writers’ Centre revived the competition as part of April is Poetry Month in Limerick 2019 festival. The prize winner of this year’s competition will be announced during April 2025 and will be invited to give a reading of his/her work during the 2026 festival.

About Desmond O’Grady.

Desmond O’Grady (1935 – 2014) was born in Limerick, Ireland. Poet, professor, Harvard teaching fellow, editor, translator, Aosdana member. Widely travelled, O’Grady left his Limerick home in the 1950’s to teach in Paris, Rome and America. Reputed not only for his seventeen collections of poetry and his linguistic prowess, O’Grady was a founding member of the European Community of Writers.

First Prize 200.00 Euro
Runner-Up Prize 50.00 Euro

ENTER ONLINE
Entry is by email to limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com after an appropriate fee is paid by PayPal to the account of limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com https://www.paypal.com/ie/home

Enter by post to
Limerick Writers’ Centre, c/o The Umbrella Project, 78 O’Connell St., Limerick, Ireland with appropriate fee in Euros only (cheques/PO made out to Limerick Writers’ Centre).
Your poems will not be returned, so do keep a copy.
All entries must be received before midnight SAT 15th March 2025.
Entries received after this time will be discarded.
All entries are judged anonymously so please do not put any identifying features on the poems.

Entry fees are as follows;
1 poem 3.50 Euro
3 Poems 5.50 Euro

(A maximum of three poems per entry is allowed)

Competition Judge; Anne Fitzgerald
Anne Fitzgerald  was raised in Sandycove Co. Dublin. Educated at Loreto Abbey Dalkey, Trinity College, Dublin (Law), and Queen’s University, Belfast; lived and worked in North America and England. Edited, produced and designed four anthologies of young adults’ poetry and founded Loreto Abbey Dalkey Press (2004) and MET Press (2003), both school publishing houses. Poetry collections include, Swimming Lessons (2001), [in 3 sects., ‘Paddling’, ‘Breaststroke and Butterfly’ and ‘Swimming the Channel’]; The Map of Everything (2006), Beyond The Sea (Salmon Press, 2012) and Vacant Possession ( Salmon Press, 2017); writer in residence at The Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco (2007). Anne lives in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Not to Scale was published at the end of October 2024, by Forty Foot Press (Dublin), as a Limited Edition of 200 copies.
Rules.
Poems, in English only, can be on any subject and presented in any form or style.
There are no restrictions on content.
International entries are welcome.
All poems must be the unpublished work of the person entering them into the competition. They must not have been published, self-published or accepted for publication in print or online, broadcast, or have won another competition at any time.
All entries will be considered anonymously by the judge so poems should not have any indication within them to allow for the identification of the poet.
Should the named judge be unable to proceed, we aim to substitute an alternative judge of equivalent standing as a poet.
There is a recommended length of not more than 40 lines but we are open to receiving longer poems if the subject matter justifies it.
Poems can be entered by email to limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com putting “Desmond O’Grady Competition 2025” in the subject box and paying the appropriate fee through PAY PAL in Euros.
Enter by post to Limerick Writers’ Centre, c/o The Umbrella Project, 78 O’Connell Street, Limerick, Ireland with appropriate fee in Euros only (cheques/PO made out to Limerick Writers’ Centre). Your poems will not be returned, so do keep a copy.
Please attach all entered poems in one attachment using a standard Word file
All entries will be acknowledged by email only.
Closing Date for all entries is midnight on Saturday 15th March 2025.
We cannot accept alterations to the poem(s) once it has been submitted.
Poems cannot be withdrawn from the judging process once they have been entered.
Although copyright will remain with the poet, we reserve the right to publish the winning poem on our  website or print books for one year from date of announcement of winning poem.
The organisers reserve the right to withhold prizes if such an action is justified.
The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

HOW TO ENTER (Email);
1. Pay the appropriate fee to PayPal account address is: taylordj2020@outlook.com and obtain the PayPal transaction code. https://www.paypal.com/ie/home
2. Send your entry via email to limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com
In the subject line please state “Desmond O’Grady Competition 2023”
In the body of the email please state;
Your Name
Your address
Your email address
Poem title(s)
PayPal transaction code
Please attach your poem or poems in a single WORD or TEXT file, there should be no identifying features on the file other than the poem titles,
No other file types will be opened. (No PDFs)

HOW TO ENTER (Post);
Post to Limerick Writers’ Centre, c/o The Umbrella Project, 78 O’Connell Street, Limerick, Ireland with appropriate fee in Euros only (cheques/PO made out to Limerick Writers’ Centre). Your poems will not be returned, so do keep a copy.

ALL POEMS MUST BE RECEIVED BEFORE MIDNIGHT SATURDAY 15th MARCH 2025
https://www.limerickwriterscentre.com