Short Story RESULTS 2025
At the Wild Atlantic Words short story reading and prize-giving event in the Festival Dome on Friday, 10 October 2025, are (from left): Wild Atlantic Words festival committee member and short story competition sponsor, Kevin Swift of Bridge St; John Armstrong (Castlebar, Co. Mayo), winner of this year's annual short story competition; committee member and short story competition sponsor David Brennan, Mayo Books Press & Castle Bookshop; author and competition judge Eimear McBride; and competition runner-up, Cathal O Dubhlaing (Dublin). Picture: John Mee Photography
WILD ATLANTIC WORDS SHORT STORY COMPETITION
Sponsored by Bridge St and Mayo Books Press
RESULTS 2025 – Judge: Eimear McBride
2025 WAW Short Story Competition Winner: John Armstrong from Castlebar, County Mayo, reading an excerpt from his story at the prize-giving event in the Festival Dome. John also made the shortlist in the 2024 short story competition, judged by Mike McCormack.
First prize: ‘Six Five Four’ – John Armstrong (Co. Mayo)
Runner-up: ‘Nesting’ – Cathal Ó Dubhlaing (Dublin)
The following stories also made the shortlist (in no particular order):
‘The End of Nothing’ – Conor Griffin (Dublin)
‘This Would Never Happen at Vanessa’s House’ – E.A. Griffin (Co. Cork)
‘Hawkmoths’ – Angela Finn (Dublin)
Thank You!
The committee wants to say a huge thank you to all our short story competition entrants. A very special thanks also to our judge for 2025, Eimear McBride (whose comments you can read below), and to our sponsors, Bridge St and Mayo Books Press for their ongoing support. We received a record number of entries this year and as always, judging was done blindly.
Judge’s Comments – Eimear McBride
Summary
It’s certainly been a wild few weeks of reading in the McBride house. With a huge number of entries to get through and so many inventive and affecting stories to choose from, I have struggled to arrive at a shortlist. From the hilarious to the harrowing, the insightful to the confronting, I’ve been taken on journeys from Ireland’s stark past to the pressures of its present day, from mythological worlds to the realms of sci-fi, from social realism to surreal flights of fantasy, and been hugely entertained along the way. So, while this shortlist necessarily excludes many fine stories, the ones it includes are excellent examples of what delighted, moved and intrigued me.
First prize: ‘Six Five Four’ – John Armstrong (Co. Mayo)
The domestic surrealism of this story acts as cunning, engaging, misdirection from the threats faced by its young protagonists. It’s a layered, sophisticated work produced by an interesting imagination.
Runner-up: ‘Nesting’ – Cathal Ó Dubhlaing (Dublin)
This is an elegantly crafted story, very much in the classic mould. It’s delicate construction serving in beautiful counterbalance to the secret, familial devastation at its heart.
Also shortlisted (in no particular order)
Shortlisted: ‘The End of Nothing’ – Conor Griffin (Dublin)
A poignant, and subtly understated story about loss and reemergence. I really admired the author’s restrained handling of the deeply emotional subject matter.
Shortlisted: ‘This Would Never Happen at Vanessa’s House’ – E.A. Griffin (Co. Cork)
The situational absurdity of this story just made me laugh – out loud on several occasions – while its writer’s excellent ear for dialogue, and comic eye for human venality, is a delight.
Shortlisted: ‘Hawkmoths’ – Angela Finn (Dublin)
I found the quiet sadness the author has woven around this intimate, calendrical story of bereavement very compelling. Nothing, and everything, happens while life just continues on its way.
Judge: Eimear McBride
Eimear McBride is the author of four novels: A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, The Lesser Bohemians, Strange Hotel, and The City Changes Its Face. She held the inaugural Creative Fellowship at the Beckett Research Centre, University of Reading, resulting in the performance text ‘Mouthpieces’. Her full-length, non-fiction work, Something Out of Place: Women & Disgust was published in 2021. In 2022, she wrote and directed ‘A Very Short Film About Longing’ (DMC Films/BBC), which was selected for screening at the 2023 London Film Festival. She is the recipient of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Goldsmiths Prize, Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, Kerry Prize, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
2005 WAW Short Story Competition Runner-up: Cathal Ó Dubhlaing (Co. Dublin)
2005 WAW Short Story Competition Judge: Eimear McBride
RESULTS 2024 – Judge: Mike McCormack
First prize: ‘Mr Stenworth’s Slippers’ – Madeleine D’Arcy (Cork)
Runners-up: ‘Black Habits’ – Rory M. Duffy (Co. Westmeath); ‘Frequency’ – Niall Kitson (Dublin)
The following stories also made the shortlist (in no particular order): ‘Red’ – Aoife Hargadon (Co. Sligo); ‘The Retreat’ – Brid Connolly (Co. Kildare); ‘Bobby Hospital’ – John Armstrong (Co. Mayo); ‘The Wine Bar’ – Leo Cullen (Dublin)
RESULTS 2023 – Judge: Donal Ryan
First prize: ‘Must-Haves’ – Jane Babb (Dublin)
Runners-up: ‘The Refugee Hotel’ – Olivia Rana (Co. Antrim); ‘Everyone is Amazed’ – Beth Kilkenny (Dublin); ‘Fágáil/Leaving’ – Gabrielle Mhic an Fhailigh (Co. Galway)
RESULTS 2022 – Judge: Elizabeth Reapy
First prize: ‘White Lies’ – Andrew Maguire (Co. Tyrone). Runner-up: ‘Dead Bait’ – Mattie Brennan (Co. Sligo).
The following stories also made the shortlist: ‘Beauties of Bath’ – Leo Cullen (Co. Dublin); ‘An Encounter’ – David Butler (Co. Wicklow); ‘Stewsday’ – Bryan Conlon (Co. Cork)
RESULTS 2021 – Judge: JP McHugh
First prize: ‘Scale’ – Michelle Coyne (Galway). Runner-up: ‘Waiting’ – Jordan Lillis (Galway)
The following stories also made the shortlist: ‘25th December 2022’ – Rachel Gough (Cork); ‘Composition No.49’ – Alicia McAuley (Antrim); ‘Still Life’ – Sree Sen (Mayo); ‘De Last Snayke In Urland’ – Eoghan Collins (Dublin)
RESULTS 2020 – Judge: Lisa McInerney
First prize: ‘Farmer Wife’ – Chris Kennedy (Sligo). Runners-up: ‘A Bit Part’ – Ryan Wiles (Antrim) and ‘Envy’ – Kevin Dardis (Dublin & Germany)
The following stories also made the shortlist: ‘It Would Be Nice To See You’ – Emma Flynn (Kerry); ‘Legacy’ – Rosie Cowan (Antrim); ‘The Stray’ – Kate Phelan (Wexford); ‘The Blue Star’ – Aoibheann McCann (Galway)
RESULTS 2019 – Judges: Thomas Morris & Wendy Erskine
First prize: ‘Everyone Here Has A Story’ – Eamon McGuinness (Dublin); Second prize: ‘'98, '99’ – Grahame Williams (Down)
The following stories also made the shortlist: ‘A Stone's Throw Away’ – Róisín McPhilemy (Down); ‘Baby Blue’ – Adam O’Keeffe (Cork); ‘Scorched Earth’ – David Butler (Wicklow); ‘The Test’ – Rose Keating (Cork)