The successful Frances Browne International Poetry Competition, pioneered by Celine Mc Glynn and Dr. Pauline Holland, has been an established event since 2008. The competition is unique in its tri-lingual approach, welcoming poets writing in the English, Irish and Ulster-Scots languages. Since the very first year, the team has been astounded by the volume of entries, and the high quality of the poetry. They believe this is because our competition fulfills a real artistic need for our communities to express themselves in their venacular languages.

The awards ceremony, traditionally held on the Friday night of the festival, is a truly unique and magical night of poetry, song, celebration and friendship. It enshrines the Frances Browne Literary Festival motto ‘Treasure each Voice’ with live readings of new poetry in all three languages. It celebrates and preserves our different voices, helps to brings new talent to the fore, and recognises that we are all connected by our literature and our land.

The 2024 Frances Browne Multilingugal Poetry Competition is open for entries. The deadline for entries is midnight on 21st August 2024.

We are keen to encourage quality, so suggest writers to check their stories before submitting using Prowritingaid. They have free and paid versions and are the best writing software we know to help improve grammar, readability and check for repetition, ‘sticky’ sentences and suggest alternatives.