Powers & Irish Times Short Story Comp

Hollzy

I'm sorry I must say last year's winner is terribly written. I was considering entering but I don't know now :S

hous

last years winner played the theme and won and fair play to them. The theme this year seems less structured around powers whiskey and should give people more creative license. Ive entered my shot at the 10K

Hollzy

True, I could definitely use the money. Might as well submit something!

partnership

This competition was brought to my attention yesterday and have just looked at the theme and last years entry. Was thinking of doing a story based on what truly matters - family - and a situation whereby someone helped out by taking in their niece cos they were being neglected by their alcoholic parent. Then I saw the thing about Powers and unfortunately don't think it would go down too well to talk about bad episaodes where someone drank a bottle of Powers! I found the story last year cringemaking but it is a lot of money so might just swallow my cringe and do it with the best of them!

Hollzy

Time to sell out! :P

psicic

Let's all sell out together!

Woooo!

Kinski

Writing an advertisement wouldn't be so bad if you could have some fun with it; if it were for a product like Guinness, at least you'd know they have some appreciation for the witty and the surreal. But last year's winner is the sort of saccharine twaddle that makes me want to hurl (almost as much as drinking whisky does.)

southcentralts

but at that moment she knew that one more drink, or even the thought of another drink, would be too much, so instead she opened the Irish times, only to find a full page advert for Paddy's Irish Whiskey. She then Vomited, everywhere.

I think you may need to read between the lines for a competition like this, product placement is about displaying the product in a good light, as they are the ones forking over E10,000 so they will want a little bang for their buck.

good luck in the competition op, drink Paddy for inspiration, I hear it also cures the cold, wonderful stuff.

coffee_cake

The winner may be required to participate in unpaid promotional related publicity undertaken by the promoter or its associated companies. The winner must be available for a photo and willing to have his / her photo published by The Irish Times and Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard Ltd


mmmm ;s

psicic

bluewolf wrote: »

The winner may be required to participate in unpaid promotional related publicity

As long as this doesn't involve a face tattoo of a bottle of Powers, I'm game.

Nihilist21

Just entered there now. I sold-out a wee bit in terms of Powers punnery, the money obviously the motivating factor. Wrote in the past hour, after I let the idea ruminate in my head for a week or so. After years of writing that was my first attempt at a short story (or a short short story, rather, micro-fiction - maybe that's the term, it escapes me right now), so will be intrigued to see how it is received.

BraveInca

Family, pathos and the sponsor's name. Will they go for this?



===================================

THE FAMILY BUSINESS

---

His mother terrified him still.

"There's been a Mohoin drinking in this town since before the famine!" she was saying again. "Before the famine!", she was almost screaming now.

The kitchen had not changed since he was a boy. So many terrible memories. So often he'd sat at the table, just where he was now, and dreamed of escape.

"Your brother Liam was going to carry the can for you" She was still clutching the bottle of Powers. "But since he rolled the tractor on the way home from O'Neill's, it's down to you Frankie. It's down to you."

She poured more whiskey into his glass, not caring that he hadn't touched it at all. "Now drink up!!'

"But ma…"

"Don't 'but Ma' me! Your brother is dead, your father is dead - it's you now Frankie. You can't run away any more"

"But ma… I have a family now in New York. A life there. A good life."

"Your life is here now Frankie. Drink!"

The Powers burned as it went down his throat. His first drink in 12 years.

----

He woke in the darkness before dawn. His father and his brother stood at the foot of the bed. His brothers head lolled impossibly on his snapped neck. His father glared at him. His fists like giant hams. Now his fists were giant hams. He was pounding Frankie's head. Pound! Pound! Pound! Raw fat and juices flying.

"Da - stop - Da…."

Now he could see a third figure in the room. A small man …

"Who…? Wait…who is that…??"

The small man was speaking, but Frankie couldn't hear.

"…way, must you go… now… before it's too late".

"Wait Da, wait… what's he saying… wait!"

But his father's ham fists pounded relentlessly.

Frankie turned on his side and vomited.

----

The next morning his mother stood in the kitchen. She held out a mug to him. Hot, sugary tea topped up from the bottle of Powers that, somehow, she still held.

"Hair of the dog lad"

"Yes ma"

She held out the phone. "Now phone that wife of yours and tell her you're staying here. With us. "

"Yes ma"

"Good lad".

He took the phone. His hands were not shaking so badly any more. He took the bottle of Powers from his mothers hand and drank deeply from it. Then he made the call.

pickarooney

If you want to enter it, I'd advise editing it out of your post quickly.

BraveInca

pickarooney wrote: »

If you want to enter it, I'd advise editing it out of your post quickly.

I guess you didn't read it

pickarooney

BraveInca wrote: »

I guess you didn't read it

I did after I posted and I think you should enter

psicic

Ha-ha! Loved that story, BraveInca... if Powers don't take it, the Irish Vintner's Association should! :pac:

dominiquecruz

Are you meant to get a confirmation email or anything after you've entered? I'm not on Facebook at the moment, have they said anything about how many entries they've received? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's only around 5/6 :rolleyes:

An Ri rua

Kinski wrote: »

Writing an advertisement wouldn't be so bad if you could have some fun with it; if it were for a product like Guinness, at least you'd know they have some appreciation for the witty and the surreal. But last year's winner is the sort of saccharine twaddle that makes me want to hurl (almost as much as drinking whisky does.)

My great great grandparents sold Kilbeggan Distillery to Lockes. Unlike you , whiskey does not make me hurl A pint of it please. and more, if someone else is paying. Its life-blood to some. That's where you need to be writing from. Not hurling it up ? :rolleyes: And unlike an earlier poster, a bottle of whiskey DOES have pride of place in our house. Unfortunately the wrong brand for a Power's story

Edit. Just entered now. Delighted with myself for having a go. Story roughly written for 2 weeks now. Many edits this evening :-D

Kinski

An Ri rua wrote: »

My great great grandparents sold Kilbeggan Distillery to Lockes. Unlike you , whiskey does not make me hurl A pint of it please. and more, if someone else is paying. Its life-blood to some. That's where you need to be writing from. Not hurling it up ? :rolleyes: And unlike an earlier poster, a bottle of whiskey DOES have pride of place in our house. Unfortunately the wrong brand for a Power's story

I've got more than I know what to do with here - drinks cabinet is full of the bloody stuff. Not that I dislike the taste, but I very rarely drink any because any time I do it turns out like this. Now, if Powers asked me to write that story...

cailinoBAC

I just saw the theme and started writing something vaguely to do with that. I realised too late that it had to be so connected to Ireland, forget about Whiskey. Anyway, just realised today was the last day, so figured I may as well throw it in anyway.

--Kaiser--

I threw my hat into the ring as well, for what it's worth

De Dannan

10k for 450 words! i guess you could call it creative writing, in a sense
Anyone else here write for ads/marketing campaigns before ?

SpaceRocket

Entered my story there just before cut off time!
Curious to read the winning entry in May...

psicic

dominiquecruz wrote: »

Are you meant to get a confirmation email or anything after you've entered?

Yeah, found it a bit off-putting that we didn't get any type of email acknowledgement saying the entry had gone through. Still, they have my postal address to send my cheque to even if the email address I entered was wrong!


To be honest, I liked the whole exercise. I'd much prefer it was clearer what they wanted and that there was more prizes, but I haven't really written so 'short' a story before and I found it an interesting challenge. The low word limit made me into a much better 'editor' of my work - I had to lose quite a few turns of phrases that I liked from my first draft, but I must admit it made for a tighter story. It was interesting setting the goal of having a story with a beginning, a middle and an end, but I think I came close. I also kind of liked having to try and fit my style into the type of theme I'd usually avoid - haven't done that since my school days.

I know we've joked earlier in the thread about 'selling out', but I actually thought it was a pretty beneficial creative writing exercise.

An Ri rua

I also greatly enjoyed the process.

With 150 words to go, I thought no sweat. Suddenly, I was at 590 when I had finished adding flesh to what I had thought were well-conceived bones. The whittling down became, though not at first, enjoyable; and I ended up with a story I was genuinely proud of.

Really looking forward to the outcome and delighted to have got stuck in rather than idling on the sidelines...

De Dannan

I think the process required to 'whittle' down a story to 450 words was, for me, quite difficult. But, I think an exercise that could be very useful. I discovered that my story did contain some waffle and it is a better one for being edited. Having said that, 450 words is very short

mari2222

dominiquecruz wrote: »

Are you meant to get a confirmation email or anything after you've entered? I'm not on Facebook at the moment, have they said anything about how many entries they've received? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's only around 5/6 :rolleyes:

4200 per irish times

D-FENS

D-FENS wrote: »

I can't see anything in the rules / terms about your entry having a title, and i don't see one on last year's winner, anyone know if your story should be titled?

Hi,

Just been reading some of last year's entries for this on Powers' Facebook page, they all had titles...i didn't give my entry for this year a title in the end, does anyone think this would be of any significence to the judging panel?..

Babette

I would guess it makes no difference at all, D-FENS. The longlist is now being compiled and some of the stories on it appear to have no title.

psicic

So, didn't know there was going to be a longlist.

For anybody else who didn't know, go to Powers Comp Blog and use the search function in your browser to see if your name is on the longlist.

So far, I'm not there.