Swift Satire Competition 2010

Details of the Swift Satire competition have just been finalised and have been added to the Boyne Writers website on this page. Details are much the same as the last two years. This years' topic or theme is 2000-2010: The Best Of Times, The Worst Of Times and entries will be judged on the basis of satire, irony, absurd humour, acute political insight, grotesque imagination, and lacerating wit - the hallmarks of Swift's best works.

Entry fee: 7 euro (or 5 pound sterling or 10 dollars) per entry. Length: Prose - minimum of 600 words, not more than 800 words. Poetry - minimum 30 lines, maximum 100 lines.

Prizes: 1st 500 euro, 2nd 300 euro, 3rd 200 euro. Closing date: Tuesday, 15 June, 2010

Entries (by email or post) will be judged by members of the Boyne Writers Group and a Guest Judge. This year's Guest Judge is a man with a keen sense of the ridiculous and a fine appreciation of satire: John Murray, presenter of the popular RTE Radio 1 programme, The Business, and a regular presenter of Morning Ireland.

This competition is being held in conjunction with the Trim Swift Festival, which will take place in Trim from Thursday, July 1, to Sunday, July 4, 2010.

Entries should be sent to Boyne Writers Group, c/o P Smith, 25 Saintjohns, Trim, County Meath, Ireland, OR emailed to swift@boynewriters.com (and please put Boyne Writers Competition in the subject line of the email). Online entrants can pay the entry fee by PayPal.

Prize-winning authors will be invited to read their entries at functions during the Trim Swift Festival (Thursday, July 1, to Sunday July 4, 2010). Alternatively, prize-winning entries will be read by members of Trim Drama Group or members of the Boyne Writers Group at functions during the festival on behalf of the authors.