Carlow Little Theatre Society were delighted to announce the winners of their fourth annual International One-Act Playwriting Competition recently, which, once again attracted a large number of submissions from Ireland and all around the world.
After an exhaustive shortlisting exercise and another extremely close contest this year, three independent adjudicators reviewed all of the entries into the competition and announced the winning results in the following order.
𝟭𝘀𝘁: ‘𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝗴’ Rachael Cullivan Elliott 𝟮𝗻𝗱: ‘𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗼𝗿 “𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗬𝗮 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗦𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘇𝗲?’ by Joe Bravaco 𝟯𝗿𝗱: ‘𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵’ by Ryan Pollock
The competition also had the distinction of awarding the overall 1st prize and the winner of Best Irish play to 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗻 𝗘𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝘁𝘁, an Irish based playwright.
‘In the Name of the Dog’ is a tragicomedy about a mother whose role in her male-only family is taken for granted and under-appreciated.
Mary Doyle, a judge in the competition, praised the winning play: “The script lifted off the page with its energy, writing talent and craftsmanship. It’s a very well-deserved winner.”
As winner of the International and ‘Best Irish’ Play categories, Rachael will be the happy recipient of a cheque for €500 and €300 respectively for the above awards, plus beautiful bog oak trophies by ‘Celtic Roots’ in Westmeath.
2nd place in the competition, Joe Bravaco from New Jersey in the USA, is the recipient of €300 prize money, and 3rd place, Ryan Pollock from Wishaw in Scotland, is the recipient of €200.
Winner Rachael Cullivan Elliott expressed her joy after her double win. “I am delighted and honoured to win this award and want to thank Carlow Little Theatre and all those involved in the organisation of this competition.
It is wonderful to see such encouragement to playwrights – both seasoned and those new to the craft.
Also, I would like to acknowledge and congratulate my fellow winners and all those who entered the competition and wish it – and them – every success in the future”.
About ‘In the Name of the Dog’, Rachael commented: “It’s a play about little things – like jigsaw pieces! The little things that make a life – or can end it – either by themselves or slowly over time. The final result isn’t always what you expected from the picture on the box!”.
Speaking on behalf of the competition’s sponsors, Maven TM, Managing Director, Mark Cradock commented “Carlow has a strong culture and tradition regarding theatre going back many decades and Maven TM are proud to sponsor these awards, which encourage, support and provide recognition to modern playwriting talent.
Society always needs to listen to the ‘voices’ of its storytellers, who articulate so much about the world we live in.
It is a huge achievement for any writer to be shortlisted or win this competition, because the level of entries is so high, from writers from all over the world”.
Mark concluded his comments by offering “heartiest congratulations to the joint overall and Irish category winner Rachael Cullivan Elliott for her wonderful, entertaining and moving play ‘In The Name of the Dog’, and also to the runners-up, Joe Bravaco and Ryan Pollock for their exceptional entries. I would also like to thank all writers who entered this year’s competition.”
Carlow Little Theatre Society’s PRO, Paul Dunne, speaking on behalf of the organising committee said “We would like to thank all of our entrants, judges, committee members and of course our sponsor Maven TM for making the competition a huge success again this year. We look forward to launching and hosting the competition again in 2025”.
