Along with most other industries, the publishing industry has faced unprecedented challenges this year. Now, however, with the careful re-opening of the country, we are intent on making up for lost time with a blistering 2020 Awards season.  Along with headline sponsor An Post, we are determined to play a major part in foregrounding Irish writing like never before.

Given the constraints of Covid-19, you will not be surprised to hear that the Awards will be rather different this year. Currently, we are proceeding with the customary schedule of stages and after another huge surge of submissions the process of selecting the shortlists is well under way. Unsurprisingly, our two key events, the Shortlist Announcement and the Awards Ceremony cannot proceed as live events but will be staged as virtual online events only.  The key dates are as follows:

• The Shortlist Announcement: 20th October
• The Awards Ceremony: 25th November
• The RTÉ  TV Awards Show: 10th December

We will be promoting the Awards as robustly as we ever, via PR, social media and especially in-store, where we will be planning a huge campaign for readers in the autumn. It is perhaps more important than ever this year to provide a promotional platform for books and booksellers before Christmas and along with our colleagues at An Post we pledge to make 2020 as big a year as it can possibly be.

The An Post Irish Book Awards celebrate and promote Irish writing to the widest range of readers possible. Each year it brings together a huge community passionate about books – readers, authors, booksellers, publishers and librarians – to recognise the very best of Irish writing talent.

Join with us in celebrating another wonderful year for Irish writing.