“A remarkably self-assured writer, with impressive range and depth to her poetry and prose, resulting in deeply personal yet universal meditations on life and living. "Goodbye blue Monday" finds glimpses of strange beauty in everyday gestures and moments. "Spring" deploys rhyming couplets with a deft lightness that breathes life into well-worn forms and tropes. In general, the writing is alive with excitement and surprise, generated by careful and bold use of language and fired by an impressive, informed imagination. It is also beautifully introspective, with rich and evocative imagery underscored by dreamlike detachment.”

There was 26 applicants and we had two highly-commended writers who were recognised for their excellent submissions:

• Aoife Imray
• Claire Dineen

The annual tribute night is set to take place on the 4th of September this year. It is 10 years since Eoin's passing and we have a few ideas on how to mark this anniversary, which we will post here in due course.

"I am overwhelmed with love... this must be the cost".

Marij reads one of her very beautiful works at this year's tribute night. Once again we came together in the Spáilpín Finch and had a wonderful night of poetry and music, surrounded by friends and family and new and old scholarship community members. It was, as always, a beautiful night.

You can see a list of performances here.

We received 29 applications this year and after careful reviewing and discussion with the panel of judges (Ian Maleney, John Fitzgerald, Liz Quirke and Eamonn Mulholland), the final outcome was as follows:

1. Marij Bernard (winner)
2. Tess O Regan (highly commended)
3. Luke Condon (highly commended)

It is great to see two highly commended scholars, an indication of how high the standard was this year and the extent to which the judges deliberated. We hope this recognition encourages all of the scholars in pursuing their creative goals.

We are once again so happy to see Eoin's legacy and the scholarship move forward and we are excited to meet and listen to the word of Martje, Tess and Luke at the Tribute Night this coming summer.

We thank all those who entered this year, as well as the panel of judges and administration staff in UCC who facilitate this scholarship every year. We say a particular thanks to Danny Denton for the enthusiasm and efficiency with which he manages this every year. 

On the 25th of October we attended the annual School of English welcome event. As always it was a lovely evening in the very cosy and welcoming staff common room in UCC. It was another opportunity for us to meet Freyja (pictured here) and her mother. Freyja read some new work we hadn't heard which was a real treat. It was also great to see Danny Denton (also pictured above) and catch up over the past few months. Danny is a writer and lecturer in UCC. He has provided great support to the scholarship and is instrumental every year in making sure it continues to happen. 

​Thank you again to UCC for the invite. This years Scholarship application process will open soon and as always we look forward to the high calibre of submissions. 

On the On August 30th we gathered together again in The Spailpín Fánach to remember Eoin and to celebrate this years Scholar and highly commended Poets, and those from previous years.

It was really lovely meet Freya and Otto in person, both of whom gave beautiful readings of their recent work.

We were also delighted to be joined by previous scholars, Aoife Osborne, who performed some of her new work, and Alana Daly Mulligan, who treated us to a screening of their short film Homofónia.

As always, Eoin's friends treated us to a great night of music, with performances from (in no particular order!) M'Adam, Rob Carlile, John Treacy, Sadhbh Moriarty, Aengus Mac a Bháird, Annie Bloch, Lauren Cahalane, Muireann Joyce-Hearn, Katie O' Neill, Nikki Burke, Eamonn Mulholland, The Duffys, Jack Hickey, Sound Addiction and Mark Leonard.

A special thanks to Tom Duffy for doing the sound on the night and Danilo Milk for doing a live stream - a first for the Tribute Night and a huge benefit for those who couldn't make it, but wanted to take part in some way.

Thanks as always for all of the love and support and it is so encouraging to see the community of poets grow every year.

After reviewing the many talented applications, the final shortlist was as follows:

1. Freyja Hellebust (winner)
2. Otto Goodwin (highly commended)

It gives us great pleasure to see the Scholarship community widen further with the addition of Freyja and Otto, and we look forward to meeting them at the Tribute Night later in the summer.

As always, we would like to thank all students who took part. It is very heartening to see the scholarship go from strength to strength each year.

We attended the first in-person School of English and Digital Humanities welcome event since 2019, last Tuesday 18th of October. It was really lovely to get together in person again. We were happy to meet the new head of School, Claire Connolly and the new School manager, Aisling O' Leary. It was, as always, great to catch up with Danny Denton again.

It was also a lovely opportunity to chat again with Aoife, hear about the progress on her MA in Belfast and hear her read her wonderful work again.

We will shortly be opening this years Scholarship application process and look forward to all the great work we're sure will be submitted. 

This year we were finally able to gather in person again to celebrate Eoin's tribute night. The event took place in the Spailpín Fánach on the first of September. As always, the room was full of love, creativity and friendship, just the way he would have wanted it to be. Thanks as always to Eoin's close friends in organising and performing on the night. It was really lovely as well to see poets from past years coming back with their family and friends to perform and support. One of our ambitions with the scholarship was to create a supportive community of writers in Cork, and we really saw that coming to fruition this year. It was also as always a lovely opportunity to catch up with each other and a remember Eoin together. 

You can see the full playlist here. 

Eoin's very talented friend, Annie Bloch, recently released the official music video for her song; "The Saint".

​Annie has written a number of songs about Eoin, her relationship with him and her processing of her grief at his passing. She was a very close friend of Eoin's and we are always so happy to spend time with her when we can and to enjoy the music she creates and shares with us.

We are delighted to announce the winner of the fifth Eoin Murray Memorial Scholarship, Aoife Obsorne. As part of the scholarship, Aoife will receive €1500 to allow her to focus on developing her writing over the summer. We hope to have our annual tribute night in-person again this year, and look forward to Aoife's performance. Aoife will also receive mentorship from the UCC writer-in-residence. You can follow Aoife's progress over the summer from her instagram page, @little.lost.starfish

Aoife has published numerous articles with local and national newspapers. Her most recent venture into literary criticism saw her write for the Paper Lanterns Young Adult Literary Journal. In 2016, Aoife placed second in her category at the National Newspapers of Ireland Press Pass Awards. She was also shortlisted for the International IMBAS Short Story Competition in 2018 and was a highly commended entrant of the 2020 NYC Midnight Microfiction Competition. We greatly look forward to reading her future work.

After reviewing the many talented applications, the final shortlist was as follows:

1. Aoife Osborne (winner)
2. Emily Linehan (highly commended)

We are delighted to welcome Aoife and Emily to the community of poets and writers that is growing around the scholarship. We hope to see them both, any many of our past scholars and runners-up, at the tribute night later in the year. We thank all students who took the time to enter the scholarship and encourage those of you who did not succeed this year to enter again next year.