About the Féile
Introduced by County Librarian, Muiris O'Raghaill in 1989, the competition was primarily open to those in the Dún Laoghaire and surrounding local areas.
In 1989 the first prizegiving ceremony was held in Sallynoggin Library for the winners of the Irish and English language competitions which included categories for Adults and Young People. Councillor Betty Coffey was the first Cathaoirleach in attendance and music was provided by flautist Aoife O'Raghaill. The following year, the Féile Filíochta gathered momentum and included entries from all over Ireland. In 1991 the Goethe-Institut approached Muiris O'Raghaill with the hope of including a German language category and this was the start of the international dimension to the competition. German was followed by French in 1992, Italian in 1993, Welsh in 1995, Spanish in 1996, Scottish Gaelic in 1998, Swedish in 1999 and Polish in 2006 .
In 2000 when the entry form was made available on the Internet, the competition became truly global with entries received from all over the world and in 2005 over 70% of entrants first found out about the competition on the Internet. In the last few years, winners of the competition have come from as far afield as Australia, California, Cuba, Mexico and from every corner of Europe. This is not to say that there is no longer local interest in the competition. Approximately 18% of our entries in 2005 came from Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, mainly in the Irish and English categories but with many poets entering in the other language categories also. All the winning poems since 1999 are available on the library website www.dlrcoco.ie/library
For the millenium, the new logo for the Féile Filíochta was introduced. Inspired by Ogham, the script carved on tree and stone centuries ago in Ireland, the logo evokes the ancient Celtic symbol for the letter 'F'. For the fifteenth year of the competition, this logo provided the design for the newly-commissioned Féile Filíochta Award which is now presented annually to first prize winners. In 2002 the Féile Filíochta Poem of Europe Award was introduced, a beautiful crystal trophy awarded by the Assembly of European Regions for the most outstanding Adult Category poem in the competition. This has been won by Merit Åhs from Sweden (2002), Miriam Santopolo from Italy (2003), Tony Bianchi from Wales (2004),Christl Greller from Austria (2005) and Kieran Furey from Ireland (2006).
The Féile Filíochta continues to grow every year with 6,176 entries from over 52 different countries, received in 2006. We would like to thank all the many adults, teenagers and children who rose to the challenge of putting thoughts and feelings into words of energy and beauty throughout the 19 years of the Féile Filíochta and we are confident that the magic of poetry will continue to thrive through this competition for many years to come.
