Last year, we said that An Post promised to be a wonderful fit for the awards and so it proved.  Here is a sponsor who shares our goals and ambitions for the advancement of books and reading in Ireland and boy, did they deliver on that promise.  By every available metric, the 2018 awards were the most successful ever with a vibrant promotional campaign, a wonderful Awards Dinner with accompanying RTE highlights show, and a list of winners unanimously celebrated as representing the best of Irish writing at a time when it has never been more popular at home and abroad.

But to demonstrate that the awards can be more than just a late-season climax to the publishing year, An Post’s brilliant activation plans — encapsulated in the Readers Wanted campaign – left us reeling in admiration for the sheer imaginative creativity of the project. Suddenly, everywhere you looked online or outside in the real world, there we were, our names riding high on those wonderful cutting-edge graphics.  And there has been no slackening of the pace as this recent children’s writing competition would suggest.

So hats off to An Post and please note, we will be opening for submissions from July 1^st and note too that the Gala Dinner will this year take place on November 20^th in the new location of the spectacular Convention Centre Dublin .