New Writing Prize Winners 2025

Laurence Lumsden is a Dubliner living in Tiohtià:ke (Montréal) who began writing stories under cover of the pandemic. He’s been published in Crannóg Magazine, and online in Sky Island Journal, River, and The Galway Review.

Of Laurence’s piece ‘Deconstruction’ Wendy Erskine commented:

Complex relationship with a lightness of touch, I loved this story with its brilliantly judged dialogue. Who knew that an IKEA furniture forum could be mined for such gold?

You can read Laurence’s winning piece ‘Deconstruction’ here.

www.LaurenceWrites.com

Finola Cahill is a writer from Ballina, Co. Mayo. Her work has featured in the London Magazine, Poetry Ireland Review, Southword, Propel, and others. She was the winner of the 2023 Waterford Poetry Prize and the 2024 Single Poem Award at Listowel Writers Week, and was shortlisted for the Bath Short Story Award, Fish Prize, Bridport Prize, and others. She is at work on her debut collection and a longer piece of fiction.

On Finola’s poem ‘The girl was eaten by moths? Yes,’ Victoria Kennefick commented:

This winning poem is a rare treasure – original, spiky, accomplished and arresting. I was struck by how measured and concise it is, while also brilliantly exposing the feeling of anxiety, trauma and all their attendant effects with language that is as witty as it is unexpected, ‘…she was eaten by moths. Oh, how awf– It took/time.’ The poem is bedecked with brilliant lines, ‘She said it was a lively pain, like the finicky line in tickling or a thigh swallowing/teeth.’ I enjoyed the interruptions; we are so often interrupted by ourselves and each other. I will be thinking about this poem for a long time.

Úna Nic Cárthaigh is a primary teacher from West Cork who lives in Galway. She graduated with a BA sa Chumarsáid from the University of Galway and a Master of Education from Mary Immaculate College. She has an interest in short stories, flash fiction and poetry as Gaeilge.

Is múinteoir bunscoile ó Iarthar Chorcaí í Úna Nic Cárthaigh atá ag cur fuithí sa Ghaillimh. Bhain sí BA sa Chumarsáid amach le hOllscoil na Gaillimhe agus Máistir Gairmiúil san Oideachas ó Choláiste Mhuire Gan Smál. Tá dúspéis aici i ngearrscéalta, splancscéalta agus filíocht i nGaeilge.

In response to Úna’s piece ‘Bhí Bean in Éirinn’, Liam Carson commented:

This is a finely realised portrait of a solitary old woman, taking us into her house, into her world, and into her memories of a forbidden love in her teenage years. It has all the rich detail of a Dutch Interior, and is both subtle and tender. It is a tale of great empathy.

Eamon Doggett, ‘The Binoculars’ 

Akshita Hunka, ‘First Day, First Show’

Paul Tucker, ‘Ziva’

Kate Serif, ‘That Woman’

Martina Dalton, ‘Into the Black Valley’

Yanita Georgia, ‘Long Story Short’ 

Cian Ó Dubhshláine, ‘An Cónasc Mór’

Joe Phadhraic Ó Fátharta, ‘Blúirí Weber’