Ireland EU50 Art/Creative Writing Competition for Third Level Students

“Let go, let fly, forget. / You've listened long enough. Now strike your note.”

From Seamus Heaney, “Station Island” (1984)

The University of Limerick’s predecessor, NIHE Limerick, opened its doors in the academic year 1972/73. Its first Humanities degree, the BA in European Studies, was the new institution’s response to Ireland’s future in Europe, heralded by the country’s entry to the EEC on 1 January 1973. To mark fifty years of the BA in European Studies at the University of Limerick, now one of the longest-established such degree programmes in the world, the Jean Monnet Chair in European Cultural Studies at UL’s Centre for European Studies has teamed up with Ireland EU50 for a creative writing/art competition for third level students that continues the forward-looking perspective that has always underpinned the BA programme and aims to encourage students to imagine Europe fifty years from now.

Submissions are invited from undergraduate students, including students at colleges of Art and Design, that give their personal creative responses to the topic Europe 2073: What will Europe look like in fifty years’ time? What are your hopes and dreams – or fears – for this continent in 2073? Submissions can consider any aspect of the social, cultural, economic or political future of Europe, including that of the European Union.

The European Union is multilingual. The competition responds to this fact by inviting entries, alongside submissions in English and Irish, also in the languages offered on UL’s European Studies degree French, German and Spanish.

Submissions can be in visual or textual form. Work can be individual or in pairs.

Art work can be in any plastic, graphic or visual form, including a painting, a drawing, a collage, textile work, a sculpture, a video clip, podcast or a short film drama (max. length 3 minutes), etc.

Texts can be an imaginative essay, a short story, a poem, a radio play, a blog or work in other genres, with a maximum length of 1,000 words.

The entries will be judged within the following six categories:     

A Art/Visual work              

B Texts

B1 in English                        

B2 in Irish                             

B3 in French as L2             

B4 in German as L2                       

B5 in Spanish as L2.                       

Submissions: All entries must be sent by email as attachments in pdf format, with a covering note in the email indicating your contact details. They must be sent to this address: Europa2073competition@ul.ie. Non-digital art work must be submitted in the form of a photograph(s) with additional information giving the title and details about media and size of the work provided in the accompanying email.

Deadline: 28 February 2023.

Prizes in each category: 1^st prize €500; 2^nd Prize €200 and 3^rd Prize €100. In addition, the International Association for Contemporary European Studies (IACES) is awarding a special prize of €200 for the best entry addressing specifically the question of the European Union in 50 years’ time. All submissions will be automatically entered.

The winners will present their work at a special event marking fifty years BA European Studies at the end of March 2023 at the University of Limerick.

The best entries will also be offered the opportunity to have her/his/their work published in a dedicated space on the UL Centre for European Studies website. This publication is also intended for teaching purposes and will no doubt provide exciting and imaginative material for teaching the European Union and/or European Studies in Irish schools and colleges.

Organizer: Jean Monnet Chair in European Cultural Studies, Centre for European Studies, University of Limerick in co-operation with the Department of Foreign Affairs (#IrelandEU50) and the International Association for Contemporary European Studies (IACES).

Further information: Prof. Joachim Fischer, Jean Monnet Chair in European Cultural Studies, University of Limerick; Email: Joachim.fischer@ul.ie.