Francis MacManus

CBS Kilkenny Francis MacManus Short Story Awards

Winners Announced 2020......
Exciting News all the way from Mexico City!

Congratulations to Michael Rafter for claiming this year's senior prize for his story A Raven in the Dark and to 2019 Junior winner Rohan Vargas for the successful defense of his title with his story Lovelorn.

Click on the winners roll above to read the wonderful winning stories.

Click here to read Tim MacGabhann's praise for A Raven in the Night and advice to the writer.

Click here to read Tim MacGabhann's praise for Lovelorn and advice to the writer.

Details on the arrangements for the awarding of prizes to follow in the coming days.
Congratulations to both our winners and to Tim MacGabhann for his amazing support of this competition.

The CBS Kilkenny Francis MacManus Short Story Competition 2019 - 2020

Exciting News….
This year’s competition has been moved to coincide with Literacy Week 2019 and will be judged by two times winner and novelist Tim MacGabhann!
Details of this year’s competition and conditions of entry are now posted on the school noticeboards and on the school website.

Senior prize €200
Junior prize: €100

Submission by email only to p.boyle@cbskilkenny.ie

Deadline Friday October 25th 2019

TIM MACGABHANN
TIM MACGABHANN was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, and began his writing career as a music journalist while studying English Literature and French at Trinity College, Dublin. Since 2013, he has reported from all over Latin America for outlets including Esquire, Thomson Reuters, Al Jazeera, and the Washington Post. His fiction, non-fiction, and poetry has appeared in Gorse, The Stinging Fly, and Washington Square, and he holds an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. He lives in Mexico City.

CALL HIM MINE by Tim MacGabhann
‘TOUGH AND UNCOMPROMISING: YOU’LL BE GLAD YOU READ IT‘ Lee Child
‘HILARIOUS, GRIPPING, POETIC. I LOVED IT‘ Adrian McKinty, author of The Chain
‘GRIPPING FROM BEGINNING TO END’ Independent
‘INTOXICATING AND CHILLING’ Observer
‘PACY AND EXCITING’ Daily Telegraph
‘VIVID AND LYRICAL’ Guardian

Nobody asked us to look.
Every day, every since, I still wish we hadn’t.
Jaded reporter Andrew and his photographer boyfriend, Carlos, are sick of sifting the dregs of Mexico’s drug war: from cartel massacres to corrupt politicians, they think they’ve seen it all.

But when they find a body even the police are too scared to look at, what started out as just another assignment becomes the sort of story all reporters dream of…

…until Carlos pushes for answers too fast, and winds up murdered, leaving Andrew grief-stricken and flailing for answers, justice, and revenge.

MORE PRAISE FOR CALL HIM MINE:
‘This striking debut by a new Irish author hits many buttons and deserves to be singled out for acclaim… A memorable book that has arrived out of the blue, and is all the more welcome for it’ Crime Time (Highly Recommended)

‘A superb, realistic rollercoaster of a read from an incredible new talent’ Irish Examiner

Francis MacManus
Francis MacManus (8 March 1909 – 27 November 1965) was an Irish novelist and broadcaster. Born in Kilkenny, MacManus was educated in the local Christian Brothers School and later at St. Patrick's College, Dublin and University College Dublin. After teaching for eighteen years at Synge Street Christian Brothers School in Dublin, MacManus joined the staff of Radio Éireann (precursor to RTÉ, the Irish national broadcasting entity) in 1948 as Director of Features.

MacManus began writing while still teaching, first publishing a trilogy set in Penal times and concerning the life of the Gaelic poet Donncha Rua Mac Conmara comprising the novels Stand and Give Challenge (1934), Candle for the Proud (1936) and Men Withering (1939). A second trilogy followed which turned its attention to contemporary Ireland: This House Was Mine (1937), Flow On, Lovely River(1941), and Watergate (1942). The location was the fictional "Dombridge", based on Kilkenny, and dealt with established themes of Irish rural life: obsessions with land, sexual frustration, and the trials of emigration and return. Other major works include the novel The Greatest of These (1943), concerning religious conflict in nineteenth-century Kilkenny, and the biographies Boccaccio (1947) and Saint Columban (1963). In his last two novels, MacManus descended into the depths of theological debate: The Fire in the Dust (1950) was followed by American Son (1959), a remarkable dialogue between conflicting modes of belief which reveals the strong influence of Roman Catholicism on the author.

MacManus died in Dublin 27 November 1965 at the age of 56, from a heart attack.
The RTÉ Francis MacManus Short Story Award was established in his memory in 1985, and the CBS Kilkenny award was inaugurated in 2005.

Francis MacManus Trophies

Prizes
Senior: €200
Junior: €100

Conditions of entry

All entries must take the form of a short-story.
Entries should be submitted by email to p.boyle@cbskilkenny.ie. They must be in Times New Roman font, size 12 and double spaced.
All emails should clearly state "McManus Competition" in the subject bar.
Stories should not be written in the body of the email but attached as a file.
All entries must be the sole work of the entrant.
Entries can be written to any length up to a maximum of:

2000 words Senior competition
1500 words Junior competition.

The junior competition is open to all students of CBS Kilkenny from 1st to 3rd year.
The senior competition is open to all students of CBS Kilkenny from 4th to 6th year.
The winners of both awards will be announced in school, and the awards will be presented on Awards Night.
The closing date for submissions is Friday October 25th 2019.