Mairtín Crawford Awards for Poetry and Short Story 2024

The Crescent runs the annual Mairtín Crawford Awards for Poetry and Short Story, and we are delighted to announce that the submission window for the 2024 Awards is now open. 

The Awards are aimed at writers working towards their first full collection of poetry, short stories, or a novel. Both published and unpublished writers are invited to submit between 3-5 poems for the poetry award, and a short story of up to 2,500 words for the short story award, with the only stipulation being that they have not yet published a full collection of poetry, short stories, or a novel.

The Winner of each Award will receive a £500 cash Prize. In addition, each Winner can take up time a ‘Time to Write’ package which includes a 3-night stay at a Hotel in Belfast, and 4 days of dedicated writing space in The Crescent. Two Runners Up for each Category will receive a £250 cash prize. Placed entrants will be announced at a special event during the Belfast Belfast Book Festival 2024.

To make a submission you must:

1. Pay a submission fee of £10 using the blue box at the bottom of this page. There's a button for Poetry and one for Short Story. Follow the checkout instructions. 

2. You will receive a confirmation email that contains your order number.  

3. Prepare your submission and ensure you carefully read the terms and FAQs. Click here to read the terms and FAQs. For the Poetry Award 3-5 poems and for the Short Story Award a short story up to 2,500 words. All entries submitted can be on any subject, written in any style or form. Entries must be in English. 

4. Submit your entry by email to BBFSubmissions@crescentarts.org and quote your order number in the subject line of the email.

5. The closing date for submitting your work is at Midnight (UK time) is at 12pm on Wednesday 10 April 2024.

Our thanks go to CILIP Ireland for their continued support of the Awards.