The winners of Carlow Little Theatre Society’s popular One-Act Playwriting Competition for 2026, sponsored by DigiAbú, were recently announced, with David Keenan of Celbridge winning both the overall Best International Play and the Best Irish Play categories with his exceptional play, The Halo Effect.
Now in its sixth year, the competition received submissions from across the world, with entries from 12 different countries. Mr Keenan, a freelance writer and journalist, takes home the winning trophies, along with monetary prizes of €500 for the international award and €300 for the Irish award. He was presented with the trophies, handmade sculptures by Irish Celtic Bog Oak, at VISUAL last Friday, shortly before Carlow Little Theatre Society’s performance of Big Maggie.
The Halo Effect is a two-hander one-act play involving Dee, the mother of a teenage boy, and Darren, a misogynistic online influencer. The play tackles a range of subjects and issues, including toxic masculinity, narcissism, abuse, the difficulties of parenting in the modern age of smartphones, and the negative side of online influencing, particularly on young people.
Mr Keenan was delighted to receive the awards: “I was absolutely thrilled when I heard the news. I think opportunities like these are brilliant and very important for the thriving theatre scene in Ireland. I’m really excited now to take this project further and hear about the work of my fellow winners.”
Leah Philbin of Nottinghamshire in the UK took second place in the competition, and €300 prize money, with her play The Smothered Fool, and Samantha Dols of California took third place, and €200, with her piece Duck Body.
CLTS President Jamie Dockery commented that: “The One-Act Playwriting Competition exists to give writers a platform and to bring new voices to Irish theatre. This year’s entries, from Ireland and eleven other countries, showed the kind of ambition and originality that makes that work worthwhile. The Halo Effect is exactly the kind of bold, socially engaged writing this competition was created to champion, brave, relevant, and beautifully crafted. With entries from all across the world, the standard this year was exceptional, and we look forward to seeing these plays reach audiences. None of this would be possible without the generous support of DigiAbú, whose commitment to this competition makes a real difference to writers and to the wider theatre community.”
Mark Cradock, Managing Director of DigiAbú, sponsors of the competition, was full of praise: “We are delighted to support this wonderful competition. It provides a substantial prize and recognition to the writers and helps them to promote themselves and their play in the theatre world. It is a serious undertaking by Carlow Little Theatre each year and I’d like to thank the group and its volunteers for running and managing the competition so impressively. I would also like to congratulate David Keenan for his awards with his extraordinary play.”
DigiAbú is a Carlow-based agency that provides digital marketing services, including social media, email, website and CRM services, to businesses in the region. DigiAbú is part of Maven TM, which was recently shortlisted as a finalist in the Best Digital Consultancy category of the national Tech Excellence Awards 2026.
