The entries were judged by novelist Dr Dónal Ryan of the School of English, Irish and Communication, novelist Dominique Le Meur of the School of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics, and lecturer in creative writing, Dr Vicky Brady of Mary Immaculate College. The winners within the category of creative writing in English were Hollie Hannon, University of Galway (1st Prize); Nicholas O’Keeffe, Trinity College Dublin (2nd Prize); and Liam McCourt, Dundalk Institute of Technology (3rd Prize).

Liam who hails from Dundalk and went to CBS secondary school, chose to study Arts at DkIT because he had an interest in novels and films. Liam said of his course

“I feel like the content of my course has been above and beyond in terms of what I expected, my favourite subjects are American Literature and Film, but there is a great range of modules to pick from which is very varied, I’m really enjoying my time in DkIT, I like the small class size and it feels more like a  family atmosphere with a diverse range of students”  he added “I’m delighted to have won this award, I didn’t always have a love of creative writing but the course has encouraged me to dabble and become more creative”

Liam would like to progress to teach at secondary school level, so after he graduates from DkIT he will pursue a Masters of Education.