Irish Chiefs' and Clans' Prize in Gaelic History 2025
Clans of Ireland (Finte na hÉireann) in association with the History Department of Trinity College, Dublin, and History Ireland magazine, are offering a prize of €500 for the winning entrant in an essay competition on Gaelic Ireland. The winner will also be presented with the Ó Ceallaigh Dal gCais Perpetual Cup at the Clans of Ireland Cultural Summit and may be offered the opportunity to read the winning essay.
Entry is open to all persons over 18 years who are NOT on the academic staff of a history department in any third-level institution.
Essays must be on a topic dealing with any aspect of the political, social or cultural history of Gaelic Ireland (within the date-range AD 400 to 1690), such as Irish kingship, lordship, landholding, genealogy, family history, etc. They should be c. 2,000 words in length and accompanied by full footnote references to sources used, with a bibliography at the end (footnotes and bibliography will not be counted as part of the word-length). Essays may be written in English or in Irish.
Entries, with candidate's name, address and contact details should be posted to:
'Irish Chiefs' and Clans' Prize'
Clans Of Ireland,
Bromehill House,
Kilrush,
Co. Clare,
Ireland V15 RT28
or e-mailed as an attached MS-Word file to:mksimms@tcd.ie by 1st June 2025
The prize will only be awarded for an entry deemed to be of publishable standard. Subject to editorial approval, a version of the paper will appear in the Nov./Dec. 2025 issue of History Ireland. Both the winner and other entrants whose papers are deemed of publishable standard may be invited to contribute their work to a projected volume of essays on Gaelic Ireland, which is a central goal of the Chiefs’ and Clans’ competition.