Warm, warm congratulations to Irish novelist, playwright, and documentary filmmaker Cónal Creedon for winning the CAP Award for Fiction. It was a pleasure to present the Award to Cónal in person and to support the CAP’s Fiction category once again this year.
The winning novel Begotten Not Made is a “fairy tale for the 21st century – where the mystery of blind faith is explored and the magic of belief is restored”. We certainly don’t envy novelist and playwright Lisa Harding the task of selecting a winner from the shortlist, and we commend her for judging the Award so thoughtfully, with her detailed reflections on all the shortlisted entries shared on the night.
It was an extra special night for the JM Agency team, as Dr Mary O’Kane’s tour de force in child psychology, Anxious Children in an Anxious World, which was formatted and designed by our team, won best book in the Non-fiction category. Mary’s award is richly deserved, having topped bestseller lists and helped thousands of parents with its straightforward and insightful guidance on parenting.
Other winners included Brendan O’Connell, whose book Cerberus’ New Tricks (illustrated by Fiona Boniwell), won in the ‘Children’s Senior’ category, North Star, a literary collection by female northern Irish writers, won the Anthology Award, and Caoimhe M. Flanagan, whose book Willow Wood Land, both written and illustrated by Ms Flanagan, won both the ‘Children’s Junior Award’ and the ‘Golden CPA Award’, awarded to the overall winner across the various categories. Warm, warm congratulations to all the winners, and to all the authors shortlisted and longlisted.
Credit once more to the wonderful CAP committee of Carolann Copland, Jane Buckley, Yvonne Reddin, Orla Bakeberg and Patrick Osborne for so generously giving their time and energy to organise an event that means so much to all the authors. Special thanks also to Chapters Bookstore for providing such a fitting, cultured and ambient venue.
Special thanks also to Daria Piaseczna for capturing the moments as always. Onwards an upwards to CAP Awards 2025.