Mayo woman claims top poetry prize
Ballina woman Finola Cahill was the winner of the Waterford Poetry Prize 2023.
A Mayo woman has won first place at the Waterford Poetry Prize 2023.
Finola Cahill, a writer and musician from Ballina, claimed the prestigious accolade for her poem, . Finola's poetry has featured in the , and others.
This year she was shortlisted for the Fish Poetry Prize, the Bridport Poetry Prize and the Listowel Writers Week Collection Award. She participated in the 2023 Seamus Heaney Summer School and was one of 37 writers selected for the 2023 Irish Writers Centre national mentoring programme. Her place in the mentoring programme is funded by the Mayo Arts Office.
She is currently working towards publishing her first collection, for which she has received an Arts Council Agility Award. Her band, Pembroke, can be found on all the usual streaming services with their debut album, . Finola is awarded €400 plus a course at the Molly Keane Writers Retreat, Ardmore, Co Waterford. The competition is sponsored by the Waterford Arts Office and Waterford City and County Council.
Patrick Holloway, rom Carragaline, Co Cork, while third place was claimed by Lianne O’Hara, a poet and playwright from Dublin.
The adjudicator for the Waterford Poetry Prize, Colm Keegan, read the winning poems to a capacity audience at the Speakeasy Open Mic event at the Waterford Writers Weekend.
