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.
๐ญ๐๐: โ๐๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ก๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ดโ Rachael Cullivan Elliott ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ: โ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ข๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด, ๐ผ๐ฟ โ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ?โ by Joe Bravaco ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฑ: โ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ตโ by Ryan Pollock
The competition also had the distinction of awarding the overall 1st prize and the winner of Best Irish play to ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฒ๐น ๐๐๐น๐น๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐น๐น๐ถ๐ผ๐๐, an Irish based playwright.
โIn the Name of the Dogโ 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: โThe script lifted off the page with its energy, writing talent and craftsmanship. It’s a very well-deserved winner.โ
As winner of the International and โBest Irishโ Play categories, Rachael will be the happy recipient of a cheque for โฌ500 and โฌ300 respectively for the above awards, plus beautiful bog oak trophies by โCeltic Rootsโ in Westmeath.
2nd place in the competition, Joe Bravaco from New Jersey in the USA, is the recipient of โฌ300 prize money, and 3rd place, Ryan Pollock from Wishaw in Scotland, is the recipient of โฌ200.
Winner Rachael Cullivan Elliott expressed her joy after her double win. โI 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 futureโ.
About โIn the Name of the Dogโ, Rachael commented: “Itโs 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 competitionโs sponsors, Maven TM, Managing Director, Mark Cradock commented โCarlow 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 โvoicesโ 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 worldโ.
Mark concluded his comments by offering โheartiest congratulations to the joint overall and Irish category winner Rachael Cullivan Elliott for her wonderful, entertaining and moving play โIn The Name of the Dogโ, 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 yearโs competition.โ
Carlow Little Theatre Societyโs PRO, Paul Dunne, speaking on behalf of the organising committee said โWe 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 2025โ.
