Organisers of the RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival Schools Playwright Competition are delighted to announce the six finalists who are in contention to be crowned this year’s winner.
Now in its 10th year, the competition challenges Transition Year students to write a short one act play (2,000 words approximately ) on a given theme. Some one hundred scripts were submitted from students across twelve counties with the top six listed (in alphabetical order ) as follows - Sean Brennan, Athlone Community College; Grace Hennessy, Calasanctius College, Oranmore; Veronica Ogunleye, Wilson’s Hospital School, Multyfarnham; Cormac Reilly, Glenamaddy Community School; Daniel Scally, Tullamore College, Riverside, Tullamore and Noah Winders, Castleknock College.
For the fourth consecutive year, Athlone Credit Union have been proud sponsors of the event.
“As a local, member owned co-operative, Athlone Credit Union has a strong commitment to supporting our local community. Since 1966 we have affirmed this commitment by providing donations to a wide range of community, cultural, charity, and sports groups to help fund their activities. We were delighted to support the RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival Schools Playwright Competition again this year, we consider the event a very worthwhile project that benefits our younger members in the community,” speaking about the sponsorship CEO of Athlone Credit Union, Michael Evans, said.
Festival Director, Regina Bushell, thanked the Board of Athlone Credit Union for its support which is of huge importance in the growth and development of this competition.
“In agreeing to sponsor this playwriting competition, Athlone Credit Union has enabled students from across the country to engage their imagination and writing skills which hopefully will feed into the proposed introduction of Drama as an Arts subject for the Leaving Certificate,” Ms Bushell stated.
Margaret Egan, Schools Playwright Coordinator, explained that this is a learning led rather than an exam driven discipline which places the onus on students themselves to engage meaningfully with characters in scriptwriting. “Perhaps someday, one of these students might write a script for a play in the future that will reach the All Ireland Drama Festival Finals”, she added.
The overall winner will be announced at a dedicated ceremony at the Dean Crowe Theatre on Tuesday 25th April where the students, classmates, teachers and families will be in attendance.
Guest speaker for the occasion will be the internationally acclaimed Galway playwright Christian O’Reilly.
The judging panel were Evelyn Breen, Clive Darling, Joe McCarrick, Paddy Martin and Billy Nott.
The winning play will be staged and the event will be covered by RTÉ’s News2day programme.
