Kenmare | Arts Festival | 2026
2 to 16 August 2026
The Kate O'Riordan Prize for Short Fiction 2026
Celebrating creativity, storytelling, and new voices in fiction
Kate O’Riordan is a multi-award-winning writer of six novels. She has also written for theatre and screen. Her many television credits include Mr Selfridge, and she created Smother and Blackshore for BBC Studios/RTE. A native of Bantry, Co. Cork, Kate’s writing career took off when she won the Hennessy/Tribune prize for a short story. Since then, she has remained a keen advocate for new writing and for giving new writers their own starting chance. She currently divides her time between London and Kenmare
THE KATE O’RIORDAN PRIZE FOR SHORT FICTION
Anthology Launch
16 August 6pm at the Carnegie Arts Centre, Kenmare
Free Admission
With readings and launch of the short story anthology
Event will be about 80 minutes
THE SHORTLIST
Congratulations to all those whose stories have been shortlisted. These selected works will be published in the inaugural anthology, First Light, which will be launched at the Kenmare Arts Festival on Sunday, 16 August at 6pm at the Carnegie Arts Centre, Kenmare. Admission is free. The Kate O'Riordan Prize for Short Fiction event will include readings and the launch of the short story anthology, and will last approximately 80 minutes. Thank you for being part of this year's competition. To everyone who took the time to put their words on paper and submit to the Kate O'Riordan Short Story Competition, thank you. We appreciated every entry and genuinely enjoyed reading them.
If your story did not progress this time, please do not be discouraged. As readers, judges, and writers ourselves, we have received more rejections than we can count, and we know that rejection is not a sign to stop. Very often, it is simply a redirection.
It can help to ask: where might this story go next, and what does it need to get there? Does it need more work, more focus, or a clearer shape? Is it truly a short story, or is it closer to memoir - or perhaps even the beginning of something larger? The stories that progressed shared several qualities: a strong opening, a clear and purposeful thread throughout, believable characters and dialogue, originality, emotional impact, and an ending that stayed with the reader. These are all things that can be learned, practised, and strengthened over time. One of the most common issues we noticed was work being submitted before it was fully ready. Read it, re-read it, and then read it again. Read other people's stories too. Then return to your own and rewrite. And remember, as simple as it sounds, every good story needs one essential thing: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Keep writing, keep reading, and keep learning. We very much hope to read your work again next year.
248 The deep freezer in the field - Rosaleen Lynch
288 Combinations - Rebecca Kennedy
034 Bluebird - Eamonn Furey
035 Not quite brown bread - Derville Murphy
036 Reality - JoanTracey
032 The Reunion - Charlie Fellows
004 Coming Unhooked - June Hunter
038 Men Mostly - Séan Kenny
040 Have you lost something? - Sandra Thom-Jones
039 Moments - Martin Kelly
043 Pinching didn’t help - Mary Whelan
051 Different rules apply - Fiona McKay
292 The Fairy Hill - Hugh Dunne
285 Watching Dada - Alan Howley
002 Confessions from Piazza San Marco - Aine Feeney
022 The taller one - David Micklem
044 The poem - Maureen Meli
263 Heartbreak - Camilla Galbiati
048 Elegy - Khen Julia
1st Prize - Left-hand pages - Kate Durrant
2nd Prize - Crossing the Lexicon -Shauna Colgan