Other notable projects included the page New Irish Writing for the Irish Press, which provided a forum for aspiring Irish authors, publishing most of the most important names in Irish fiction, many for the first time, including Dermot Bolger, Ita Daly, Anne Enright, Neil Jordan, Claire Keegan, John McGahern, Michael Feeney Callan, Bernard MacLaverty, Eilis Ni Dhuibhne, Joseph O'Connor, Colm Tóibín and William Wall.
The panel of three judges for the 2012 competition is: Brendan Barrington, a Senior Editor at Penguin Ireland and editor of The Dublin Review; John MacKenna, author, and winner of the Irish Times, Hennessy and Cecil Day Lewis awards as well as a Jacob's Award for his radio documentaries on Leonard Cohen; and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, novelist and short-story writer.