Omagh teacher recognised in major creative writing competition

AN Omagh teacher has proven he is among the crème de la crème of local poets, having placed a prestigious third place in a creative writing competition.

Taking place in the 2025 ‘All Ireland Scholarships Creative Writing Competition’, Mark Todd received an award for his beautiful poem ‘La Petite Ceinture’ in the Poetry Category.

Sponsored by JP McManus, the competition, now in its fifth year, is open to all members of the All-Ireland Scholarships Alumni Association.

This year’s competition focused on the short form written word (max 1000 words) with fiction, non-fiction, op-ed and poetry categories.

A poetry category was added to the competition for the first time this year.

This year’s stellar judging panel included Donal Ryan, Professor Eoin Devereux, Dr Emily Cullen and winner of the 2024 competition, Surnaí Molloy.

The judging process was chaired by Professor Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, Head of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick.

Mark received the All Ireland Scholarship in 2009 and went on to study English and French at Queen’s University Belfast.

He has since lived and worked in many different countries, including France, Switzerland, and South Korea, and now live in Saint Paul, Minnesota in the United States.

He is currently an English Language teacher at a junior high school and an emerging writer with work published in several US publications, including The Nasiona and South Florida Poetry Journal.

Speaking about the competition, Mark said that it felt ‘very special’ to have his work recognised.

“I wanted to enter the Creative Writing Competition to showcase my writing and reconnect with the All Ireland Scholarships community in a meaningful way,” he said.

“I have not yet had the opportunity to share or publish my poetry back home in Ireland, so it feels very special to have my work recognised by the judges.”

Indeed, The judges were impressed by Mark’s poem, saying, “In third place, a profound sense of nostalgia, beautifully rendered in the particularities of place and set in Paris, the most poetic city in the world.

“We were struck by how neat internal and slant rhymes, stood out in La Petite Ceinture.”

The All Ireland Scholarships, established by JP McManus in 2008, provide financial support to gifted students pursuing third-level education.

Each year, 125 scholarships are awarded across the 32 counties of Ireland.