DAVY BYRNE'S IRISH WRITING AWARD

The Davy Byrne's Award is accepting entries now. The last one was won by Anne Enright.

Prize: €25,000 1st prize for a short story from an Irish writer. 5 runners up at €1000 each.

Entry Fee: €10

Judge: Richard Ford

Closing date: 2nd Febraury 2009

Word limit: none

And to help you along, here's what Richard Ford wants to see in a winning entry:

‘What any good judge wishes I suppose I wish for me—to have a brain that’s inquisitive and energetic enough to relish ‘the new;’ to not just prefer stories that are like my own stories, and yet to not shy away from those, either—in other words to recognise excellence in whatever form, style, length, etc. it comes in. I’d like to be won over, for the choice to be easy, for the chosen short story to dictate all the terms of its own brilliance and for me to be just a helpless celebrant. And… I’m not interested in the patented Irishness of any story. If an Irish writer writes it, it’s Irish enough for me—and even that feels a bit confining. In any case, the reader—the story’s charmed intended—can tweeze out what the winning story’s ‘cultural significance’ is, what it’s ‘saying’ about Ireland and history and the future, if indeed it’s saying anything at all.’

Oh, OK then... More here.