SCC Edna O’Brien Awards 2026
SCC Edna O’Brien Awards 2026 – Results
The results of the SCC Edna O’Brien Award 2026 are in!
We are most grateful to our judge this year, author, Niamh Campbell, who after careful reading of the poems and short stories submitted, has reached her decision.
This award is now in its fifth year and are going from strength to strength. Huge thanks must go to our young writers, whose creativity and commitment every year is a joy to see and it is helping to build a supportive and fertile writing community.
The awards ceremony will take place on 28th of May and we are thrilled that Edna O’Brien’s son, writer Carlo Gebler, will make the official presentation.
SCC Edna O’Brien Award 2026 Winner:
‘Memento Mori; what to do if your parachute fails’ by James Bugler (TY)
Judge’s comments
“So highly achieved. The concept is fun and original, but the real strength is in the writer’s emotional commitment to it and how much detail and texture is put into the sense of place, space, emotion and atmosphere, even in a story about high concepts. A man meets his superego and id after a head injury, and is hurtled through space and time, perhaps. There are also many moments of excellent style: a character doesn’t just say something, but ‘manages to eventually decide’; we see ‘A luminance that wouldn’t have even registered had it not been for my time in the peculiar white space’; ‘I hear the park go mute; the smell of cold night air leaves the back of my throat.’ It is emotionally quite sophisticated and very well done.”
James will have his name engraved on the beautiful Edna O’Brien perpetual Award. He also wins €100 cash and a place on a writing workshop of his choice at the Mountshannon Arts Festival. You can read his story HERE. James Bugler
Highly commended 1:
‘When the Light Fades’ by Meabh Guilfoyle (TY).
Judge’s comments
“A quietly melancholy idea worked through with gentle and nuanced poetic images/language; subtle and balanced in tone, really good”.
Meabh wins a specially commissioned medal and a book voucher from the Ennis Book Shop.
You can read her poem HERE When the light fades Maebh Guilfoyle
Highly commended 2:
‘Someone Else’s Sky’, by Mattia Gilia (5th Year)
Judge’s comments
“austere in its language and quite monumental, but really picks up an interesting thought experiment and wraps it up in an elegant way.”
Mattia wins a specially commissioned medal and a book voucher from the Ennis Book Shop. You can read his poem HERE
Someone Elses Sky Mattia Gilia
Best short story:
‘Leaving Home’ by Progress Falola (5th Year)
Judge’s comments
“Short but sweet, and very authentic, but mostly I am awarding this for the line about ‘your dogs bark into nothingness’ – such a slight, light little sentence but carrying a lot of emotional and atmospheric resonance.”
Progress wins a specially commissioned medal and €50 euro cash. You can read her story HERE. Leaving Home Progress Falola (1)
Niamh Campbell is unable to make the ceremony this year, but writes, “It’s great to see such wise little projects in young people. I hope they keep writing.”