On the Town: There were plenty of stories to go round at the Francis MacManus Award ceremony in Studio 1 of RTÉ this week.
The excitement grew as 21 shortlisted writers in the short-story competition gathered with friends and family to hear the final result.
RTÉ's Seamus Hosey, chairman of the judges, presided over the event which is now in its 18th year. This year's competition attracted more than 700 entries, he said.
One of the judges, Ann Walsh, a former producer with RTÉ, said reading the stories without knowing who had written them "leaves you in a very pure state of just judging the story on its own merit".
"There was a lovely optimistic twist at the end, even in those where the subject was dark," she said. They were "very definitely" stories of the 21st century, she added.
The winner, Vincent McDonnell, originally from Swinford, Co Mayo, now living in Co Cork, won €3,000 and a Waterford Crystal trophy for his story, Lemon Creams, about a man who returns to look after his dying father. McDonnell is a full-time writer since 1988. He has two books for children coming out later this year: Race Against Time will be published by Collins Press and Mirror Image will be produced by O'Brien Press. His wife, Joan McDonnell, also has a book coming out in April from O'Brien Press entitled A Spring in My Step, which is about "growing up in Limerick and surviving poverty and polio," she said.
Among the shortlisted writers was James Moynihan from Charleville, Co Cork, who said his story, The Lucky Boy, was about "isolation in the countryside". Members of his family, including his wife, Elizabeth Davis and his father, Tadhg Ó Muineacháin, joined him for the celebrations.
Also on the shortlist were Noel McFarlane and Kusi Okamura who both worked at one time for this newspaper. Another shortlisted writer, Stanley Regal, originally from the US, now living in Co Wicklow, said his story was about a boy with new braces who is suddenly able to pick up a German pornographic station. It's called Sound But No Picture, he said, with a smile.
All the shortlisted stories will be broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 each week from next Saturday at 6 p.m.