Every year we hold a free-to-enter flash fiction competition and poetry competition exclusively for subscribers to Southword. For each category, all current subscribers are emailed a link in the spring and may submit up to three poems and/or three pieces of flash fiction; it is judged anonymously by James O’Leary and winners are published in our summer issue and receive the following in both categories: 1st Prize €150, 2nd prize €100, 3rd prize €75.
This year, we received 169 poems (for which a shortlist and highly commended list appear below) and 32 flash fiction pieces. The winners appear in issue 50:
Southword 50
Southword Editions, 2026, 140 pages
ISBN: 978-1-915573-26-1
Southword is a literary journal featuring new writing from around the globe. Issue 50 includes the winning short stories of the Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition (judged by Laura Jean McKay), the winning poems of the Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition (judged by Dean Browne), and winners of the Southword Subscribers’ Poetry and Flash Fiction Competitions, as well as other poems, creative non-fiction and a selection of poems from our sister journal Aneas.
Southword Subscribers’ Flash Fiction Competition winners
1st Prize
Stay Still by Eileen Corroon
Meath, Ireland
Thirty years ago, Eileen Corroon wrote her first flash fiction piece. It won her a scholarship and the chance to become a doctor. Pushing her luck, she wrote a second.
2nd Prize
Easter ‘69 by Geraldine Creed
Dublin, Ireland
Geraldine Creed is a writer and filmmaker from Dublin. She’s had several short stories published in Irish collections and a novel chosen for the IWC Novel Fair 2023. geraldinecreed.substack.com
3rd Prize
Scopaesthesia by Ali Bracken Ziad
Cork, Ireland
Ali Bracken Ziad is a writer based in Cork City. His writing has been published widely in different journals and anthologies. He is currently working on a debut novel.
Southword Subscribers’ Poetry Competition winners
1st Prize
The Funk Concert on Rheingau by Amy Abdullah Barry
Roscommon, Ireland
Amy Abdullah Barry writes poems and short stories. A travel lover, she has performed her work in Ireland and internationally. Flirting with Tigers is her collection of poems published by Dedalus Press.
2nd Prize
One night a week or so ago in Trinidad, I died four times — a stream of consciousness appreciation for a defibrillator implant, modern pharmaceuticals and the care of others by Simon Peter Eggertsen
Montreal, Canada
Simon Peter Eggertsen came very late to poetry after a career in international public health. He has degrees in literature, language and law and now lives in Montreal.
3rd Prize
Imagination by Peter Kent
MA, USA
Peter Kent is a poet living in Boston, Massachusetts. He has published poems in Cimarron Review, Greensboro Review, Louisville Review, Smartish Pace and other journals.
Shortlist
Hélène Demetriades
Devon, uk
Hélène Demetriades‘s debut collection The Plumb Line was published by Hedgehog Press in ’22. She was placed 2nd in the Poetry London Prize, 2025, and won the Silver Wyvern, POT, ’22.
Fiona Hanley
Longford, Ireland
Fiona Hanley is a Galway writer interested in the interconnections between language and the body/somatics. Recent work of hers can be found in Ragaire, Skylight 47, The Interpreter’s House, The Storms, Howl: New Irish Writing, Kunstlicht.
Christina Hennemann
Galway, Ireland
Christina Hennemann is a poet and writer. Her collection Birthmark was published with Shearsman in 2025. Her work appears in Magma, Southword, Poetry Ireland, The Marrow, and elsewhere.
Lucy Holme
Cork, Ireland
Lucy Holme is a PhD student at UCC. She won the Southword Editor’s Award and Cúirt Prize for Poetry 2024. Her collaborative chapbook, Sardines, written with Vasiliki Albedo, was published in January.