College’s creative writing talent showcased at annual awards 

CARLOW College hosted its 13th Annual Literary Awards and Creative Writing Showcase in Visual recently. The annual event gathers together the college literary community for a night to recognise and celebrate the creative writing talent of its students, with awards presented for best in prose and poetry writing over the past year. 

This year’s awards were presented by the poet Victoria Kennefick, who is 2025 Arts Council of Ireland/Trinity College Dublin Writer Fellow.

Friends and family, staff, students and past graduates of Carlow College were in attendance for what was an engaging and entertaining evening. The night opened with members of the third-year creative writing class presenting a showcase of their writing. The class delivered their poems in what proved a dramatic, moving and varied showcase of their work. Artists as varied as filmmaker David Lynch and folk singer Luke Kelly have proved inspirational to the students.

Lecturer in English and creative writing Dr Derek Coyle said: “How exciting it is to see so many young people interested in creative writing. The ancient tradition of poetry is alive and well in contemporary Ireland. It is great to see them find their voices and with so much to say in such interesting ways. The literary awards provide them with a platform.

“Visual is such a stunning venue. Our competition is run like any professional competition and gives our students a valuable insight into and first-hand experience of how literary competitions work. The awards, and hearing Victoria and each other’s work, gives them a sense of what is involved in being active on the literary scene.” 

The following awards were presented in the categories of poetry and prose. Poetry winners: 1) Janis Woodgate (Kilkenny), Almost Eighteen; 2) Stewart Quinn (Portlaoise), Poem of Utility; 3) Pauline Flynn (Wicklow), The River. Prose winners: 1) Aishling Nic an Tuile (Carlow), Workhorses; 2) Vivienne McMahon (Kildare), The Death Doula; 3) David Kenny (Wicklow), Who’s Next to Play? 

Following the awards, Victoria commended the entrants on the high standard of their work and encouraged all participants to keep persevering and working hard at refining and improving their craft. She mentioned the importance of reading and being involved in a literary community to keep you inspired and in order to persevere. A spellbound audience heard her read her powerfully personal poems from her latest collection egg/shell.

After a questions-and-answers session, Carlow College students with literary ambitions were left with plenty to consider and with the doors of inspiration opened.