The RTÉ All Ireland Drama Festival will soon announce the winner of the 2025 Transition Year Schools Playwright Competition, now in its 12^th year, at the awards ceremony on Tuesday 6^th May, 2025 in the Dean Crowe Theatre, Athlone. The winning play will be performed after the Awards Ceremony, by an experienced cast ably directed by Alfie Kilduff and Joe MacCarrick and, as in previous years, the event will be an RTÉ News2day program item.

This year’s TY student entries, on the theme ‘Care” have come from 14 counties:

• Cork,
• Donegal,
• Dublin,
• Galway,
• Kerry,
• Kildare,
• Laois,
• Meath,
• Monaghan,
• Offaly,
• Roscommon,
• Sligo,
• Tipperary,
• Westmeath.

The prize money for our finalists has been kindly sponsored by Athlone and Castlerea Credit Union. For six years now, thanks to the ACCU, this TY competition has accommodated many potential budding writers and given some previous winners a unique chance to pursue careers in the Arts.

The Awards event will welcome the shortlisted students in attendance along with their teachers, family members and some TY scriptwriting classmates. Winning scripts and their authors are listed here in script alphabetical order as the correct placement order will not be revealed until the awards ceremony. We also have 10 remaining shortlisted students as listed below.

The winning play from one of the following seven will be staged in The Dean Crowe Theatre, Athlone, on Tuesday 6^th May, 2025.

Emma’s Struggle Adam Carmody, St Vincent’s Castleknock College, Castleknock, Co. Dublin

Finding Home Taylor Fogarty, St Fergal’s College, Rathdowney, Co. Laois

Stalled Hannah Hennessy, Coláiste Fionnchua, Brigown, Mitchelstown, Co. Cork

The Caretaker Pablo Cuentos Garcia, Castlerea Community College, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon

The Orchid Ivy Boland, Coláiste Éamann Rís, St Patrick’s Rd., Turners Cross, Co. Cork

Two Sides of The One Mind Clare Marron, Scoil Mhuire Community School, Clane, Co. Kildare

When You Have Betrayed Me Kate Heneghan, St Raphaela’s Secondary School, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin

The remaining 10 shortlisted script titles in alphabetical order:

A Pinch Of Understanding Martha O’Grady, Mercy Sec. School, Kilbeggan, Co. Westmeath

Beyond The Line Isabel Browne, Tullamore College, Riverside, Tullamore, Co. Offaly

Cold Colm O’Neill, Presentation College, Headford, Co. Galway

Forget Me Not Emma Trainor, Calasanctius College, Oranmore, Co. Galway

It’s Now or Never Sadhbh Dunne, Glenamaddy Com. School, Glenamaddy, Co. Galway

Last Winter Sarah Keelin, Glenamaddy Com. School, Glenamaddy, Co. Galway

Not In Our Town Bláithín Clarke, Tullamore College, Riverside, Tullamore, Co. Offaly

The Quiet Beneath Bravika Ahlawat, Athlone Com. College, Athlone, Co. Westmeath

The Strange Imagination of Private Braun Alannah Kennedy, Loreto St. Michael’s Sec. School, Navan, Co. Meath

The Waiting Room Noah Buckley, St. Vincent’s Castleknock College, Co. Dublin.

Guest speaker, Mr. Edward Hayden, Chairperson of The Drama League of Ireland and Culinary Lecturer in the Southeast Technological University, Waterford, will address the students on the benefits of scriptwriting and the positive link that gives vision and depth to student interest. Student potential for creative future value depends on the chances they get to learn through experience and this can encourage them to develop their own creative gifts.

Competition co-ordinator Margaret Egan explains “Participants are all winners in that they have had an opportunity, as TY students, to engage with aspects of the launch of the 2025/26 new Senior Cycle subject – Drama, Film and Theatre Studies. The motivation for TY students is to empower them going forward, nurturing their sense of creativity and helping them to develop and engage meaningfully with characters in scriptwriting.”

The judging panel, led by Billy Nott, Co-ordinating judge and Committee member, are as follows:-

Joe MacCarrick, Evelyn Breen, Caroline Coyle, Clive Darling, Paddy Martin and Billy Nott. Margaret is highly appreciative of the judging panel’s commitment to a demanding task. They had a difficult job but, as they are all well accomplished in various aspects of theatre production and performance, they have enjoyed the challenge. They expressed much admiration for the students’ imaginative thought provoking storylines and innovative ideas.

Our Festival Committee and our Festival Director, Michael McGlone congratulate all schools and TY students for their support and involvement to date.

The 2025 winner of the TY Schools Playwright Competition will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on Tuesday 6^th May and a performance of the winning play will follow.