Winners of the FASS 2020 Creative Writing Contest revealed

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (Ireland) recently held their first ever Creative Writing Competition and were delighted to announce the winners at a virtual prize giving ceremony held on 30 June, 2020.

The event was chaired by coordinator Dr Jennifer Shepherd (Department of English and Creative Writing), who thanked students for their enthusiastic support of the event, including participation in the writing master-classes offered in the run-up to the contest deadline.

Considering the very different landscape of life under lockdown this spring; ‘Essentials’ proved to be an interesting theme, generating wide-ranging and inventive responses from entrants. The contest’s judges were impressed by the skill, imagination and talent evident in the submissions received.

Award-winning poet and OU Associate Lecturer, Nessa O’Mahony, announced the winning submissions for Poetry:  first prize was awarded to Dana Byatt for her poem, ‘All We Ask’; second prize was awarded to Jackie Brown for ‘Blossoms’.

The Flash Fiction prizes were announced by distinguished writer and OU Associate Lecturer Csilla Toldy: first prize was awarded to Carolyn Jain for ‘Breaking Bread’; second prize was awarded to for ‘Tatty Little Rainbows’’; the joint winners for third prize were Sarah Ruckchati for ‘Do You Know How Essential You Are?’ and Aideen Ellison for ‘Essentials’. ‘Post-It Notes’ by Courteney White received an honourable mention.

Jennifer Shepherd closed the event by praising the courage and creativity of all the students who submitted work for the contest and directing students to upcoming creative opportunities supported by the OU in the coming months.