The Crescent Arts Centre is delighted to announce that the submission window for the 2024 annual Mairtín Crawford Awards for Poetry and Short Story is now open. Created in memory of the late Mairtín Crawford, a writer and poet who remains a significant figure in Northern Ireland’s literary community, the Awards have a prestigious place in the development of new writing locally and further afield. As a staple event within the annual Belfast Book Festival calendar, the Awards are aimed at writers working towards their first full collection of poetry or short stories, or writing a novel.

Both published and unpublished writers are invited to submit between 3-5 poems for the Poetry Award, or a short story of up to 2,500 words for the Short Story Award. Writers can submit work to both awards, with the only entry criteria being that entrants must not have yet published a full collection of poetry, short stories, or a novel.

The chosen recipient of each award will receive a £500 cash prize. In addition, each awardee will receive a ‘Time to Write’ package, including a 3-night stay at a hotel in Belfast and 4 days of dedicated writing space in The Crescent Arts Centre. The two runners-up for each category will receive a £250 cash prize.

This year, the Poetry Award will be judged by Kathleen McCracken and Dawn Watson, whilst the Short Story Award will be judged by Lucy Caldwell and Wendy Erskine.

The submission window closes on Wednesday 10th April at midnight.

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.

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