International Literary Prize 2025 Winners
The Winners
Be inspired by the winning entries from the 2025 competition
Short Stories
1st Place
My Own Personal Jesus- Seán McNicholl, Ireland
I found Jesus on the back pew of the church. He was just sitting there, lonely, waiting, like someone had forgotten to take Him home or something.
So I did. I lifted the wee white wafer and popped Him into my pocket, and He never said nothing. I whispered that He’d be safe with me. Although with Him being God and all that, maybe I’d be safer with Him, and He could protect me from Eoin Reilly, cos he’s a prick – Eoin Reilly is, I mean. Not Jesus.
I hadn’t made my communion when I fou,nd Him so I couldn’t have been eating Him or nothing, elsewise the Devil’d have my guts for garters, or so Mammy said.
I walked Him home and put nothing else in my pocket ‘cept a nice purple flower I saw in the hedge cos I thought He’d like it. I was pure scared in case I broke Him or killed Him or something, and once we were home He went straight into my top drawer. I told Him He’d be safe in there, and I even left it open a little to make sure He could breathe and that, cos it’s awful dark when it’s closed. I told Him that I’d be back soon and not to worry, and that maybe He could say a rosary to pass the time, cos Mammy always has us saying the decades when we’re driving on our holidays.
I went into Mammy’s room, cos she had little boxes in there, and I found one with some shiny earrings in them, so I chucked them down the back of the bed and took the box. It was the perfect size for Jesus, and I put Him right on the little cushion, and it was just like a throne, which was perfect cos our teacher said that He’s the king. Even though there’s a king over in England too, but we don’t like that king, so Daddy says.
I took Jesus to school with me the next day, tucked up in his box. It had been raining when Mammy pulled the curtains back, so I whispered into the box if He could make it stop, cos it was supposed to be Sports Day. And I knew He was the real deal, cos the sun had already come out by the time we reached the school gates. Jesus can do stuff like that.
Eoin Reilly was standing at the classroom door. He’s huge, so he is. Tall and wide, like the hippo I saw in the zoo. And he’s got ginger hair, and I heard some of the older boys saying gingers have no souls. Makes sense.
I took the wee box out of my pocket and whispered to Jesus to protect me and showed Him Eoin, so He’d know what’s what.
And Eoin just let me walk right on past, never said nothing, and I saw his black eye as I passed. I was delighted someone had smacked him one, and I wondered if maybe it had been Jesus. Maybe He popped up in the middle of the night, became man like they say in mass, and BAM, right in the face. But when he sat down at the desk, and I properly looked, I knew that the bruise was at least a few days old, and I’d only found Jesus the day before. Thanks to Eoin I knew all about bruises.
The teacher told us to get changed into our shorts, and we all stripped off at our desks, and I could see Eoin had way more bruises all down his legs, even though he was trying to hide behind his chair. They looked like the purply flower I’d picked for Jesus. I had never had that many bruises before, I hadn’t even seen that many flowers before!
I whispered to Jesus to help me in the running race, then snapped the wee box closed and tucked Him back inside my school bag.
The teachers were all waiting outside for us, and the younger kids were running wild like sheep escaped from the field, but the teacher didn’t care at all. It was still sorta cold, even though the sun had come up and I ran my fingers over the little goosebumps down my arms.
Our race was later, after P1s and P2s had ran. Only one of the P1s actually went across the line, most of the others just sat down and picked wet daisies.
I lined up and I was right beside Eoin, and I was pure scared he was going to trip me or something, so once the whistle went I bolted as fast as I could, like all the times I did when he was chasing me, trying to give me a dead arm or a wet willie or worse. I felt so fast, like I was being carried over the grass, and no one could catch me. Even the teacher said he’d never seen me move as fast, and that it was probably a school record, and I was going to tell him it was Jesus, but I didn’t want him to know Who I had. I didn’t want anyone to know. He was mine.
Eoin was raging, I could see. I know when he’s in a mood, everyone does. So I ducked down behind the bike shed with my medal, and peeked out, and I saw the teacher go over to Eoin, and point at his legs. Then they both went into the school, and the teacher had his hand on Eoin's back, and I wondered if Eoin was in trouble for something. He was always in trouble for something.
Once he was gone I went and showed everyone the medal, it was light and gold, and tasted funny, but I loved it. It was mine and Jesus’s and I couldn’t wait to show Him.
It started raining again so the teachers told us we’d have to do the rest of the Sports Day some other time, and we all had to go back inside. Eoin was already in his seat when we went back into the classroom, and his eyes were all red, and he looked like one of them mad bulls that run around Donnelly’s farm beside my house. Mammy says they could rip me to shreds if I was in the field with them alone. So could Eoin.
I opened the little box and showed Jesus the medal before pushing both down into my bag, then I changed back into my trousers. The teacher didn’t make us do any work, just rolled out a TV and stuck on a film for us to watch, one that we’d all seen before. It was about a house that flies away on balloons, and someday, when I’m older I’m going to buy loads of balloons and fly away too.
Eoin beat me up at lunchtime. He was waiting just outside the dining room door, and grabbed me in a headlock and dragged me into the toilets.
Where’s yer medal, he said and he threw his fist into my stomach and it pushed all the air out of my lungs and filled my eyes with purple splotchy stars. Then he kicked me in the shin and it actually made a cut that bled and everything. And I was raging with myself, cos I had left Jesus in my bag, so He couldn’t even protect me, cos He couldn’t have known about it. I didn’t cry or anything. That only makes it worse. I just waited for him to let me go, and once he did I sprinted away, but I was slower this time, and couldn’t run properly cos of my sore leg, and Jesus wasn’t there to carry me. Eoin didn’t chase at least, just shouted that he was going to beat me in the egg and spoon race, and I ran outside into the rain and hid behind the bike shed again until the bell rang.
I was soaked, but I didn’t care, and as soon as I was back in the class I put Jesus in my pocket and told Him I was never going to let Him go. In my head I told Him about my sore leg, and my tummy, and all of it, cos Mammy says Jesus can read your thoughts so you don’t actually need to say anything out loud at all. Jesus is cool like that. I also told Him I wanted Him to make Eoin disappear, vanish, poof, like he’d jump off a cliff or something like all those pigs do in the Bible. I heard the priest say that at mass. Jesus made the pigs jump off a cliff cos of the devil or something. And Eoin was worse than a pig. Eoin was worse than the devil.
We got to do drawing for the rest of the day, and I drew a picture of Jesus and me, and we were high fiving, and I drew a red line at the bottom of the page and that was Eoin, gone. Red cos he’s evil.
Mammy was late collecting me again, and I had to stand by the gate on my own and watch everyone else be collected. The teacher walked out with Eoin, over to some man that wasn’t his daddy, cos this man was wearing a suit and Eoin’s daddy didn’t even own a suit, that’s what Mammy says. The man had a big brown beard and looked like someone I knew, but couldn’t remember who. The bearded man and the teacher talked for ages, and the teacher had his hand on Eoin’s shoulder, and Eoin kept looking at the ground. Then the man walked over to a Mercedes car, and Eoin followed him and got in, and then drove away. Eoin never saw me or nothing cos Jesus had made me invisible.
Mammy arrived just as the teacher was asking what he was going to do with me, and she was full of sorrys, and the teacher said not to worry, but Mammy kept apologising, and then we went home.
The teacher never called out Eoin’s name when he took the register the next day. He hadn’t turned up and I heard Frankie Mullins saying that the police were at Eoin’s house the night before, and that Eoin had been taken away. I got pure scared, cos I knew the truth. Jesus had kidnapped him. It was Jesus in the Mercedes, with the beard and all. Real life proper Jesus. He must have escaped from the box in my pocket and became a man and took Eoin away before turning back into the bread. And that meant it was my fault, cos I’d told Him to do it, so the police would be coming for me, and I’d have to go to jail, and I’d never get to fly my house.
I felt so sick I dropped the egg before the race even began and it smashed on my shoe. Frankie won the race, even though he’s fat, and he was pure buzzing about it.
I told the teacher I had a sore tummy, and he told me to go into the classroom for a bit, but I snuck round the back and over the fence, down to the church.
It was cold inside, even though it was sunny outside, and there was no one there. The door made a big boom behind me as it closed and I jumped. I could feel the egg soaking into my socks and my toes were all gooey.
Then I took out the wee box and opened it. Jesus was sitting there looking at me.
I didn’t mean for you to take Eoin away, I said, but Jesus said nothing. You can bring him back.
Then I set Him down again on the back pew where I’d found Him, still in His throne box.
He can be someone else's Jesus.
Poetry
1st Place
The Other Side of Me - Iain McGrath, United Kingdom
The self-isolation imposed on our nation compelled me to stay in my home.
So this declaration, a rhythmic oration, in part’s a confessional tome.
Now such segregating was very frustrating, as I crave a space to engage
Performing’s my anchor, my own lingua franca, I know all the world is a stage.
I’ll give you a clue - think Danny La Rue - a Monsieur who is dressed as Madame,
For when I’m thus attired, I’m really inspired to unleash my interior ham.
Yes, give me beholders and all of me smoulders, onstage I am quite the artiste,
I flirt very freely, so touchy and feely, all my inhibitions released.
Which means, ipso facto, that I’m a drag act, oh, I do love the cheers and acclaim
And I’m so de rigueur that I cause quite a stir and I know they’ll remember my name.
For by night, I’m ‘Colette’ and I play the coquette with effortless style and elan,
I’m chic and so charming, but never alarming, it’s hard to believe I’m a man.
Yes, my secret amigo is my alter ego, I hope you won’t find it too much,
When I nurse such a pang for my yin (not my yang) so with it I couldn’t lose touch.
Now of course my aesthetic’s transformed by cosmetics; well Rome wasn’t built in a day,
The role I’m evincing is then so convincing it gives me a certain cachet.
For after pupating, I’m pert and pulsating and from me the pheromone oozes,
As trim and transcendent, my body’s resplendent and eager to blow a few fuses.
Now it was at panto, ‘twixt slapstick and canto that I saw my very first dame.
In that Damascene second, my inner self beckoned, I was drawn like a moth to the flame.
Then and there I was bitten; by smocks I was smitten, and I knew that I wanted it all
To be up there in lights, in sequins and tights, a foxy frau friend of Ru Paul.
I’ve a boring profession to cloak my obsession, by day I’m a trainee mortician,
If any there knew of my love for La Rue, I’d be straight on the road to perdition.
I knew I’d be bereft with zero hope left of morphing from duckling to swan,
But to find an arena - preserve my demeanour, oh how could that challenge be won?
I had to be me, and flaunt Double D, and know I was thrilling the crowd,
Yet what could replace my desire for a space with no public mixing allowed?
To wait in the wings when I’d so many strings to my bow and I loved stealing hearts,
For deep in my soul, I just knew that my whole was much more than the sum of its parts.
After several days’ musing, I started you Tubing, the webcam a gateway to glory
My bedroom the sphere where I could appear to showcase my glitterball story.
Now my penchant for stocking - do you find it shocking? Is all this too much information?
If persona non grata; a martyr to garter, I will of course end this narration.
But I’m living the dream, my hashtag’s ‘Yas Queen’ and for those who enjoy the divine
My podcast’s inspiral, so help me go viral, from today I’m appearing online!
Scriptwriting
1st Place
Riders On The Storm - Marilyn Moriarty, USA
FADE IN:
EXT. EDGE OF MOUNTAIN RIDGE - DAY
Aerial view of the six-lane interstate highway on the
Virginia/North Carolina border where mountains flank a deep a
valley. Snow lies on the ground. Light traffic flows in both
directions.
EXT. HIGHWAY
One eighteen-wheel truck rig (A) strains, slowly making its
way up from the bottom the mountain. A second eighteenwheeler (B) makes its way down.
The descending rig (B) picks up speed, careens wildly, nearly
out of control. The rig turns up the runaway truck lane, a
dirt road angled up into the mountain. The rig bounces
wildly, and then comes to rest angled sharply up the hill.
P.O.V. MOVING-TRUCK (A) DRIVER
Steep mountains appear one side and a
sharp drop on the other. As the moving
rig (A) passes the stopped rig (B), B
driver opens the cab door and climbs
out.
A biker on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle appears in the rear
view mirror.
SOUND: The Doors' "Riders on the Storm"
REVERSE P.O.V.
Biker's view of the truck.
P.O.V. MOVING-TRUCK (A) DRIVER
The biker appears in the side-view
mirror, and then passes into the side
window frame and gives him a thumbsup.
SOUND: "There's a killer on the road." (on the radio)
2.
INT. TRUCK
The trucker changes the radio station, finds a Christian
broadcast station.
SOUND: country gospel
P.O.V. MOVING TRUCK (A)
The Harley disappears around the bend.
EXT. COUNTRY HIGHWAY - DAY
The biker, Eli, a forty-year old, full-bearded Jew wearing
jeans, a black leather jacket, gloves, motorcycle helmet, and
steel-toed boots, turns off the interstate on a cloverleaf.
He nearly clips a red Tercel.
"California" appears on the Tercel's bumper sticker over VA
plates.
The Tercel accelerates on the interstate on ramp.
EXT. INSIDE THE TERCEL
Catherine Davenport, an attractive mid-thirties woman drives
the Tercel. "Riders on the Storm" plays on her tape deck. The
passenger's seat holds today's newspaper and a large package
she has just picked up from the post office.
EXT. COUNTRY HIGHWAY
A police car pulls out behind Catherine. The blue light
catches in her rear-view mirror.
EXT. ROADSIDE
A policeman writes Catherine a ticket
CATH
(taking the ticket)
But I wasn't doing anything.
The cop car pulls out into traffic.
EXT. ELI'S HOUSE - DAY
A two-story, plantation-style house shows signs of current
but incomplete maintenance: one side is half painted. A
mailbox at the end of a gravel driveway is painted to
resemble an American flag (hippie-style rather than veteranstyle).
3.
Eli stops the Harley in front of the mailbox and opens it.
The box is stuffed full. Eli's gloved hand reaches in for the
mail, removes it, door slams shut.
INT. FOYER OF HOUSE
A coat tree holds one black woolen overcoat and an old fedora
with a feather in the band.
Carrying mail inside the motorcycle helmet, Eli enters the
foyer, pulls off his gloves, touches a mezuzah nailed to the
door frame. He unzips his jacket, revealing a Harley-Davidson
tee-shirt.
ELI
Honey, I'm home.
WOLF (O.S)
In here.
INT. KITCHEN - DAY
On the kitchen table are a newspaper, unread, with headline
"WORLD AIDS DAY" (1992); bottles, vials, and car keys are
grouped in the center of the table. On the counter a toaster
and a food processor are covered with matching, feminine
appliance covers.
Wolf, a fortyish long-blond-haired, bearded ZZ Top type in a *
work shirt, jeans, and steel-toed boots, stands in front of
the stove. A dishtowel is tucked into the top of his jeans
like an apron. He holds a spatula.
WOLF
The bee man called. I'm making
blintzes. Your favorite, peanut
butter.
ELI
Bike rides great, Wolf.
Eli pulls the mail from the helmet, removes his jacket and
sits.
WOLF
You should know. You made her.
Wolf spoons some blintzes on a plate, puts the plate in front
of Eli.
4.
We're out of sour cream.
Wolf sits down and pours ketchup on his blintz.
ELI
Thank you, Lord, for this nourishment
of our bodies.
After one bite, Eli starts flipping through his mail.
ELI (CONT'D)
I got a new CD. Moody Blues.
WOLF
What are you going to do when you have
to start paying for them?
ELI
Cancel my subscription.
WOLF
You shouldn't join any new clubs.
ELI
What are they going to do, Wolf? Give
me a singing contract?
WOLF
Eat, already. Listen, we got some
trouble, Eli.
ELI
More woman trouble?
WOLF
Worse. We got serious problems. A
ground hog.
ELI
Where?
WOLF
Where? Are you kidding? Everywhere. In
the yard. Out in the field. Back by
the shed. Holes. Everywhere you look,
holes. We got to do something about
that groundhog, Eli.
ELI
Blintzes, blintzes, and again
blintzes. I wish you'd learn how to
(MORE)
5.
ELI (CONT'D)
cook something beside blintzes. Cheese
blintzes. Peanut butter blinztes.
WOLF
This house needs a woman.
ELI
We got the appliances. . . if we just
had a woman to run them.
WOLF
Maybe if we went to the road and lined
'em all up - you think we could get a
woman in here if we showed all the
appliances? (standing up and pulling
the covers off the appliances) A
toaster. A food processor. A juicer. A
dish washer.
ELI
Don't forget the pasta machine.
WOLF
(opening the lower cabinet door)
The pasta machine.
Wolf opens the refrigerator and looks in: one bottle of milk
and a jar of mayonnaise.
ELI
We got cold.
WOLF
(shutting fridge door)
So who needs food? These blinztes
taste like crap. The bee man has more
capsules for you.
Wolf tosses his plastic dish in the sink.
WOLF (CONT'D)
I want you to get rid of that
groundhog. Marianne called, can you
believe it? Wants me to come over and
fix the roof. Ten months already and
she thinks I'm coming back to fix the
roof. Eli, we got to waste that
groundhog.
Wolf picks up the leather jacket and puts it on.
6.
WOLF (continuing) I'll be home late.
ELI
You seeing Stephanie?
WOLF
We're hanging dry wall.
Wolf opens the door to the broom closet in the kitchen,takes
out a shotgun. He strikes a "tough guy" pose with the gun
WOLF (CONT'D)
We got to waste that groundhog.
ELI
Before you waste it, Wolf, answer me
this. (taking the gun from Wolf) What
is the purpose of the groundhog to the
creation?
SOUND: PHONE RINGS
Eli sets the gun on the table and
picks up the phone.
ELI
Hello? I'll tell him. (covering
mouthpiece)
It's Marianne. She wants you to come
over right now. It's Brownie.
Eli hands the phone to Wolf.
WOLF
Why don't you take him to the vet?
He's had a fishhook in his lip since
yesterday? Why can't you do it? All
right. (hanging up) Shit. Stephanie
will be pissed. You'll be all right
today, Buddy?
ELI
Fine, Wolf. She's going to make you
fix the roof.
Eli looks for his car keys among the bottles on the table.
WOLF
You going somewhere?
7.
ELI
A rally. I'm taking the Jeep.
WOLF
Take the bike.
ELI
(handing Wolf the helmet)
You take it, Wolf.
You know, she coulda told me, Wolf.
EXT. FRONT OF ELI'S HOUSE - DAY
The bike, parked out front, is a cherried out 1942 Harley
Panhead.
Wolf comes out with the helmet in his hand. *
WOLF *
(under his breath) The murderess. *
INT. KITCHEN - DAY
Eli sits at the kitchen table, holds the gun over his knees
without pointing it, and then puts it back in the broom
closet.
INT. CATHERINE'S LIVING ROOM - DAY
Every light in the room is on. Sliding glass doors offer an
unobstructed view of the forested mountain below. Her style
is rustic elegance. Philosophy books (ethics) fill a small
bookcase.
A cappuccino machine, obviously just opened from a mailed
package, shares the coffee table with a ticket for a moving
violation and a local newspaper.
Catherine speaks into a portable phone. As she talks, she
hits the "rewind" button on her "Buns of Steel" video tape.
CATH
I wasn't sure you remembered. It's
great. Now I need to find some beans.
Yeah. I haven't gotten used to winter
yet. Locals say the fuzzy caterpillars
are black on both ends or something,
so winter will be rough. Are you
kidding? It's a woman's college. All
the straight guys want to play daddy.
(MORE)
8.
CATH (CONT'D)
I know. Anyhow, Raoul wants my essay
by November. My dime next time and
thanks again for the coffee machine.
You made my day. Ciao.
Catherine collects the packing box for the trash, briefly
reads the ticket, and notices the newspaper headline. She
flips through the pages to find what she's looking for:
directions to the rally.
EXT. UNITARIAN CHURCH PARKING LOT - DAY
Some cars in the lot, including a van from the local
television station and a Jeep. Other cars continue to pull
in.
Catherine's Tercel turns in the lot and parks by the Jeep.
INT. CHURCH MEETING ROOM
Folding aluminum chairs are lined up in neat rows facing an
ad hoc podium, where a banner with "WORLD AIDS DAY" is
draped.
Catherine enters, looks for a seat. She takes a front-row
seat. A woolen coat and a fedora with a feather in the band
rest on a chair one seat down from her.
REVEREND GOODALL takes the podium and taps on the microphone.
SOUND: static.
Other people take their seats, filling the room.
Eli walks up the aisle, a red ribbon pinned to his shirt.
REV. GOODALL
Thank you all for coming today.
Eli moves his coat and hat to the seat between him and
Catherine, and sits where his stuff had been.
SOUND: background noise of Goodall's speech.
The crowd listens to the Reverend. Two reporters sit at the
rear and take notes.
REV. GOODALL (CONT'D)
(winding up)
And so, let us now remember those we
(MORE)
9.
REV. GOODALL (CONT'D)
have lost as we join hands in a moment
of silent prayer.
People stand up to reach each other's hands. As Eli stands he
kicks a chair into Catherine's chair. Eli takes one of
Catherine's hands; a stranger moves down the row and takes
her other hand. Catherine shuts her eyes.
REV. GOODALL (V.O.)
And now let us raise our voices.
People in the crowd continue to hold hands to the end of
"Onward Christian Soldiers." Then crowd starts to disperse.
The rubber-tipped feet of Eli's and Catherine's separate
chairs have crossed.
ELI
(still holding her hand)
What did you do with the money?
CATH
(pulling free)
What money?
ELI
The money you shoulda spent on singing
lessons.
CATH
I spent it on bail.
ELI
Do you drink coffee?
CATH
I need beans.
INT. COFFEE SHOP - DAY
Eli lifts a tea bag out of a mug, folds his hands as he
silently prays. Catherine stirs Sweet and Low into her
coffee. A bag of coffee beans juts out of her purse.
ELI
You shoulda run that shirt through the
dryer. It's permanent press, isn't it.
CATH
I got the cappuccino machine for my
(MORE)
10.
CATH (CONT'D)
birthday.
ELI
Happy birthday! Do you like blintzes?
CATH
Blini? I needed beans. I had a grinder
but no beans. Until now.
ELI
I met my wife in church.
CATH
Where is she now?
ELI
She's dead. After she died, they took
away my step-daughter.
CATH
I'm sorry to hear it. You never
adopted her?
ELI
No. But my friend was miraculously
cured of cancer. I got a dryer.
CATH
(checking her watch)
I better go. I have a writing
deadline.
ELI
I met my wife in church.
CATH
(rising from the table)
You just said that.
ELI
I got an honorable testimony.
CATH
(sitting back down)
Okay.
FLASHBACK to 1988
11.
EXT. FLORIDA CHURCH IN THE COUNTRY- DAY
A cinder-block building occupies the end of an oyster shell
parking lot with palm trees around it.
A younger Eli rides his Harley down a country road. Passing
the church, he hears lively church music.
Eli parks and walks up to church steps. He pauses before he
goes inside.
ELI (V.O.)
Jewish people always look for a sign.
They want to see the visible.
INT. CHURCH
White southern Baptist comprise the congregation. A banner
with the Star of David hangs over the pulpit.
ELI
(V.O.,continuing)
When I walked into that church the
first time, what I saw on the podium
was a banner with the Star of David in
the middle and "Jerusalem" on the top.
The bottom said "Israel." I said to
myself, "No one here knows I'm Jewish.
There's a reason why I am here." I
didn't know it at the time, but the
Pastor was in Israel, praying for Jews
to come to his church.
EXT. CHURCH
After the church meeting, RACHEL SONDHEIM, a conservatively
dressed woman, six years older than Eli, slips through the
crowd toward him.
After church a woman came up to me.
She was a Leviticus Jew like me. I
knew within five minutes that I had
found my b'shert, my soul mate. I had
prayed faithfully for two years that
God would send her to me, and that I
would know without a doubt that that
was the woman.
Songwriting
Song Lyrics
1st Place
Wounded - Terry Miller, United Kingdom
Performed Song
1st Place
Dark Moonlight - Alan Mitchell | Keith Melhuish, United Kingdom
Be inspired
Listen to the theme song and read winning entries from previous years.
