Listowel Writers Week and Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards are delighted to announce the addition of a new category for the 2016 awards.
The category will be titled the Listowel Writers Week Irish Poem of the Year’ and this latest addition will fulfill a long-held ambition of the awards organisers to include poetry on the awards roster.
The Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards and Listowel Writers Week look forward to a long and fruitful association in celebration of Irish poetry.
The ‘Listowel Writers Week Irish Poem of the Year’ is open to single poems of no more than 70 lines, published between the 1st November 2015 and the 1st October 2016, in any of the following contexts: a collection of poetry by a single author; an anthology of poetry; or an established Irish journal or magazine that has been in existence for at least six months within the period of eligibility.
Must be Original
Poems must be original i.e. neither a reprint nor adaptation of a previously-published work, and all poems must have been or will be published during the qualifying period.
The author must be Irish by birth, citizenship or long-term residence. Only one poem per poet may be submitted.
A panel of judges, chosen by Listowel Writers Week, will select the shortlist of four poems. All submitted poems will be read and judged anonymously. The shortlist will be announced, along with the other Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards shortlists, at the Awards launch in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on 25th October 2016.
The winning poem will be judged by a combination of the panel and the online voting public who will also have an opportunity to vote for their favourite poem.
The ‘Listowel Writers Week Irish Poem of the Year’ will be announced, along with all the other winning titles, at the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards gala ceremony on Wednesday, 16th November in Dublin’s Double Tree by Hilton hotel.
“We are delighted that we’re now in a position to add a poetry category to the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards roster,” said Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards Executive Director Alastair Giles.
Highly-Respected Reputation
“We’re especially delighted that the new sponsor is Listowel Writers Week, an organisation with a highly-respected reputation within the literary community.
“Poetry is central to the Irish literary tradition and we look forward to seeing an enthusiastic response in terms of submissions for the new award,” said Mr. Giles.
Listowel Writers’ Week Chairperson, Liz Dunn in welcoming the announcement said: “We, at Listowel Writers’ Week, continuously endeavour to promote and support established and emerging poets of all genres and ages through our annual workshops, events and competitions.
“We are thrilled to be sponsoring this prestigious award which recognises the prominence and importance of published Irish poets both nationally and worldwide.”
Now in its eleventh year, the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards brings together the entire book community – readers, authors, booksellers, publishers and librarians – to recognise and celebrate the very best of Irish writing talent.
Range of Categories
Each year, hundreds of books are submitted for consideration across a range of categories including Novel of the Year, Popular Fiction, Non-fiction, Crime, Children’s, Sports, Short Stories and Cookery and Listowel Writers Week are delighted to add the deserved category of Poetry to this list.
You can see the terms and conditions for entering a poem with a click on the link here. http://writersweek.ie/book-awards-terms-conditions
You can enter your poem with a click on the link here or on the image above: http://writersweek.ie/listowel-writers-week-irish-poem-year-2016-award-entry-form
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