Carmel Fitzsimons, a London-Irish journalist and mother of four, has won this year's Patrick Kavanagh award for unpublished poets . . .

The 10th Women's National Poetry Competition has a first prize of £200 and a deadline of Monday, January 4th. The address and phone number are: The Works, St. Brendan's, Waterloo Road, Wexford, 053-41193 . . . The Irish Writers' Centre on Parnell Square is running creative writing courses from January to March under many titles, including "Exploring Poetry" (with Conor O'Callaghan), "Writing for Children" (with Siobhan Parkinson), "Radio Drama"(with Sean Moffatt), "Historical Novels: Fact into Fiction" (with John McKenna) and "Starting a Novel" (with Alison Dye). Telephone: 01-8721302 for information . . .