The Belfast Book Festival is proud to present the annual Mairtín Crawford Awards for Poetry and for Short Story 2019.   

The Awards are aimed at writers working towards their first full collection of poetry, short stories, or a novel. Both published and unpublished writers are invited to submit between 3-5 poems for the poetry award, and a short story of up to 2,500 words for the short story award, with the only stipulation being that they have not yet published a full collection of poetry, short stories, or a novel.

The winner of each award will receive a cash prize of £500 and a three-night stay at Co Down writing retreat, The River Mill. The winning writers will also receive advice from editors of The Tangerine to work towards publication in the magazine. The prize winners will also be invited to read at the award ceremony at the Belfast Book Festival 2019.