Allingham 2016 Songwriting Contest Finalists

12 FINALISTS IN ALLINGHAM 2016 SONGWRITING CONTEST

The 12 finalists who will compete for the prize of €1000 in the Live Final of the Allingham 2016 Songwriting Contest on Friday Nov. 4th at 10pm in Dicey Reilly's are (in no particular order):

Alan Kavanagh - To Yourself Please Always Be True

Jessie Solange Whitehead - Try

Brigid O'Neill - Don't Make Me Go To Town

Tara Gi - Trouble

Luke Devaney - Selfish Love

Dee Brady - Ash & Embers

Amy O'Hara - Alone

Dickon Whitehead - Better Fingers

Without Willow - The Heatherfield

Avi Mc Gourty - Just Like Snow

Amy Meehan - Tapaidh an Deis

Sunset Ships - Song for Brothers

Over 50 songs were entered into the competition, and while the standard was very high, only a few can proceed to the Live Final in Dicey's on Friday Nov. 4th.

The event is open to the public and promises to be an evening of top-quality music covering a range of styles as all 12 songs will be performed live in front of judges Charlie Mc Gettigan, Ian Smith and Niamh Currid, with John Meehan as MC.

Tickets are €5 on the door.

Secondary School Poetry & Fiction Winners

The winners of the Allingham Festival Secondary School Fiction & Poetry Competitions in association with AIB are...

Under-13  Poetry

1st  Sean Livesley (St. Columba's College, Ballybofey) - 'Ode To A Goose';

2nd Molly Gallagher (Pobalscoil Gweedore) - 'Mystery After Amergin';

3rd Ella Doherty (Abbey Vocational School, Donegal Town)  - 'Through The Seasons'.

Under-13 Flash Fiction

1st Ailbhe Loughney (Abbey Vocational School, Donegal Town) -  'The Unexpected Guest';

2nd Kevin Sheridan (Lough Allen College, Drumkeeran, Co. Leitrim) - 'Singe';

3rd Aoibhinn Ni Eochaid (Colaiste Na Carraige, Carrick, Co. Donegal) - 'A Good Cop'.

        .

Under-15 Poetry

1st Felicia Nwami (Ursuline College, Sligo) -  'A Change Of Heart';

2nd Anna Hazlett (Lough Allen College, Drumkeeran, Co. Leitrim)  -  'Walking With My Eyes Closed';

3rd Luke Tuohy (Coola PPS, Riverstown, Co. Sligo) - 'Autumn'.

Under-15 Flash Fiction

1st Leah McGuinness (St. Columba's Comprehensive School, Glenties, Co. Donegal) - 'The Pink Box';

2nd Maya Carlin (Buncrana) - 'Treehouse';

3rd Luba Kazakova (Letterkenny) - 'The Exhibition: A Reflection Of Julia Smith'.

Under-19  Poetry

1st Aoife Kearns (Ursuline College, Sligo) - 'Sfumato';

2nd. Ronan Quinn (St. Michael's College, Enniskillen) - 'Tempo's Trenches';

3rd Zachary Gillespie (St. Columba's Comprehensive School, Glenties, Co. Donegal) - 'The Fateful Stage'.

        .

Under-19 Flash Fiction

1st Hazel Gardner (Lough Allen College, Drumkeeran, Co. Leitrim) - 'Moon Child';

2nd Oran Hegarty (Muff, Co. Donegal) - 'A 59 Year Old Boy';

3rd Brenna Daily (Coláiste Cholmcille, Ballyshannon) - 'Shell'.

Congratulations to all our winners, and well done to everyone who took part in the competition. The standard was very high this year.

Winners are invited to the Awards Ceremony which will take place in the Abbey Arts Centre, Ballyshannon, on Saturday Nov. 5th at 4pm (the awards ceremony for primary schools will be on at 3pm).

Allingham 2016 Poetry Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the Allingham Arts Festival 2016 Poetry Competition!

First Place

On a Train in Cluj-Napoca / A Meditation on ‘Da’ – Shannon Kelly

Second Place

Art Addict – Alyn Fenn

Third Place

Micro Engraver – Noel Connor

Highly Commended

5am, Tuesday Morning – Maurice Devitt

If I Wrote a Book – Shannon Kelly

Weight of Paper – Kim French

Shortlist:

Afraid of Clowns – Finbar Rafferty

Another Woman's Hands – Patrick Holloway

Archaeology – Michael Farry

How Do I Love You – Kate Ennals

Lapse – Marilyn McLoughlin

Moth – Kim French

Muse Seeks Poet – Alyn Fenn

Please Leave a Message – Garret Igoe

Spectrum – Alyn Fenn

The Day Philip Larkin Died – Patrick Moran

The winners of the Flash Fiction competition will be announced soon. Watch this space!

Festival Launch & 'The 10 Dark Secrets of 1916' this Saturday Night, Oct. 15th!

Join us in the Abbey Centre from 7pm for our programme launch and the special event 'The 10 Dark Secrets of 1916' with Paddy Cullivan, this Saturday the 15th of October. All are welcome, and entry is free. 

Paddy Cullivan of Callan’s Kicks, The Late Late Show, Leviathan and Kilkenomics brings you an audiovisual spectacular on the 100th Anniversary of the Easter Rising. Using Satire, Imagery, Historical Insight and Song - Paddy reveals the 10 strangest things (and Darkest Secrets) that happened during our Rising, Revolution and Counter-Revolution (Civil War). He also draws parallels with those events’ effects on modern Ireland, drawing out the fundamental changes that need to happen, no matter what Government we end up with.

How did the lawyer who prosecuted the 1916 leaders end up in one of the highest positions in the Free State? Why were 280,000 women denied the vital Treaty Election Vote of 1922? What made 2 million Irish People turn from hating 1916 to supporting the War of Independence? What dark secret made Michael Collins sign the Treaty, and why is his assassination even stranger and more covered-up than JFK’s? All these questions and more will be dealt with in the show to end all 1916 shows…

Online Booking Now Open!

Online Booking for Allingham 2016 is now open! Click the 'Tickets' link in the menu at the top of the page. Each ticketed event has its own 'Book Now' button. 

Click here for Online Booking for Allingham 2016

Many of our events are free and do not require a ticket. This is stated in the event description on the ticket page, but you can still go ahead and print a ticket if you like!