Joseph O’Connor, Christine Dwyer-Hickey, Glenn Patterson and Lia Mills have been announced as the judging panel for Write Here, Write Now: A Story of Ireland, the student writing competition.

Joe O’Connor, author of the widely acclaimed international bestseller Star Of The Sea; critically acclaimed novelist Christine Dwyer Hickey; and one of Northern Ireland’s foremost writers Glenn Patterson join Lia Mills, the author of Fallen, which is the Dublin: Two Cities, One Book choice for 2016, on the judging panel.

Write Here, Write Now will give students from 5th Year upwards, a chance to get a head start in the writing game and get their work published in Hot Press Magazine. Winners will also be rewarded with cash prizes, as well as an internship with the magazine, and lots of other great prizes. There are separate competitions for 2nd level (5th and 6th year) students and 3rd level students,. With prizes for male and female regional winners, as well as the overall national winners.

The special panel of judges will also include Hot Press Editor Niall Stokes and the magazine’s Deputy Editor Stuart Clark.

The closing date for completed entries is April 8, 2016 so there’s no time to dawdle! The winners will be announced at a special ceremony in The Mansion House, Dublin on May 11, 2016. Full competition details are available on www.hotpress.com/writeherewritenow

Write Here, Write Now: A Story of Ireland competition is a collaborative project between Dublin: One City, One Book and Hot Press Magazine in association with Libraries Northern Ireland. This project is kindly supported by the Ireland 2016 office.