The winner's of the Mairtín Crawford Awards in 2025 were;
Short Story Winner - Sarah Davy.
Sarah Davy is a writer, facilitator and mentor living and working in rural Northumberland. Her short fiction is published online and in print and her short plays have been performed in Newcastle, Manchester and London. Sarah was awarded the Finchale Prize for Short Fiction at the Northern Writers Awards in 2023. Her winning story, Shepherd, was published by The Lonely Crowd. She was commissioned by Hexham Book Festival in 2020 and won the Women On The Wall flash fiction competition, judged by Natalie Haynes, in 2018. She is working on a short story collection set against a backdrop of climate change, a full-length stage play and a comedy TV series exploring life as a childfree woman.
I’m over the moon to have my story chosen as the winner of the Mairtin Crawford Prize. It came after quite a run of writing rejections which we always expect, but that had knocked my confidence. The story is part of my short story collection in progress so having recognition has given me confidence to continue to work on it and seek publication. I’m hoping to make progress on this during the Time To Write package that comes with the award and can’t thank the judges enough for seeing something in my work.
Poetry Winner - Siobhán Flynn
Siobhán Flynn is from Dublin. She was selected for the Freedom to Write Project (2024), a John Hewitt Summer School Bursary (2023), Poetry Ireland Introductions (2023), and won the Cúirt New Writing Prize for Poetry (2022). Her work was highly commended in the Patrick Kavanagh Award (2018 and 2023), and in the Munster Literature Festival Fool For Poetry Chapbook Competition (2023). Her poetry has also been placed and shortlisted in several other competitions, most recently winning second place in the Oliver Goldsmith Festival Poetry Competition (2025). Her work has appeared in literary journals both in print and online, including The Irish Times, Dreich, The Poetry Bus, The Storms, Amsterdam Quarterly, Skylight 47 and The Stony Thursday Book. She is currently working on her first collection.
I’ve entered the Mairtín Crawford Award several times, and it’s encouraging to see that persistence pays off! I’m delighted to have won and extremely grateful to the judges. This is a generous and well-considered award, in focusing on a group of poems rather than just one, it offers real support for a writer’s developing voice. At this stage, between emerging and working towards a first collection, that kind of recognition is invaluable. Mairtín Crawford’s commitment to making space for every voice resonates with my own belief that poetry is for everyone and I’m honoured to be part of his legacy.
The runner-ups of the 2025 Awards were as follows:
Short Story:
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1st Runner Up: Conor Griffin
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2nd Runner Up: Conor Crummey
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Shortlist (in alphabetical order): Gary Finnegan, Catherine Heffernan and Frederick Reilly.
Poetry:
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1st Runner Up: Kristen Mears
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2nd Runner Up: Sinead McClure
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Shortlist (in alphabetical order): Helen McSherry, Kate Morgan and Niamh Twomey
Many congratulations to all the shortlist!
The announcement of the winners took place during the Belfast Book Festival 2025, and it was a beautiful evening of readings from the placed winners.
A big thanks to our esteemed Judges - Kathleen McCracken, Dawn Watson and Milena (Poetry), and Lucy Caldwell, Wendy Erskine and Riley Johnston (Short Story) for their hard work and passion for the Awards.
A big thanks to the Sponsors of the 2025 Awards: No Alibis Bookshop, Johns Elliot Solicitors and Hastings Hotel. Johns Elliot Solicitors investment in the Mairtín Crawford Awards was supported by the Arts & Business NI Investment Programme.
