We thank our good Friend, Karen for the following Press Release and we extend sincere congratulations on such a prestigious Award and especially on placing such national and international focus on beautiful Tubrid Holy Well, Millstreet. Incidentally there is Mass in Tubrid tonight at 8 (3rd June 2014) celebrated by Fr. Kevin Mulcahy in advance of tomorrow’s Examinations Commencement. The Press Release now follows:
Winners Announced in Trócaire Poetry Ireland Poetry Competition
At an awards ceremony held on Wednesday 28th May 2014 in the National Library of Ireland, Dublin, Millstreet poet, Karen O’ Connor, was announced as runner up in the published poets category of the Trócaire Poetry Ireland Poetry Competition.
This national competition, which is for writers in six categories of Poetry, is in association with Trócaire and Poetry Ireland. This is the third year of the competition and the theme for this year was It’s Up To Us!
Millstreet poet Karen O’Connor was one of only four published poets to receive an award for her poem Tubrid.
The judges for this year’s competition were acclaimed poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Mary Shine Thompson, a former chair of Poetry Ireland, and Trish Groves, Campaigns Officer with Trócaire.
Karen received her award from last year’s competition winner Eleanor Hooker.
“To be mentioned in any competition is a big achievement but to do so with a poem that is personal to me, and where I come from, brings an extra enjoyment.”
“The idea for the poem came from looking at the Trócaire website and the astonishing fact that Worldwide, 783 million people do not have access to clean, safe water and I suppose that thought came back to my own childhood and Tubrid Well and the beautiful water and peace of the place”
Karen O’Connor
