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Judges 2026

Senior Children’s Book Category. Judge Ann Marie O’Sullivan
 
Ann Marie O’Sullivan is a Cork-based children’s writer and illustrator behind the CAP Award winning  Pimlicat and the Midnight Explorers. Ann Marie is the Fighting Words Coordinator at Graffiti Theatre, Cork. Fighting Words is an Irish charity that delivers free creative writing workshops to children and young people.

Working creatively with children, Ann Marie is constantly inspired by the freedom of their imaginations and the worlds they conjure with ease. This deep respect for her young audience led her to write and illustrate a middle-grade series, designed to fully capture the attention of the readers she most admires.

Inspired by her very talkative cat, Seán, and family trips to London, Ann Marie wrote, illustrated, and recently published the second book in the series, Trapped at the Science Museum.
In non-fiction, Ann Marie has written for national newspapers in Ireland and the UK and has appeared on national television and radio discussing her work. However, her heart lies firmly with tall tales filled with fun, joy, and just a hint of chaos.
 
Junior Children’s Book Category. Judge Elayne Heaney
 
Elayne Heaney is an award winning Irish children’s author and creator of the Wonderfully Weathery Books series, a collection of picture books that introduce young readers to the science of weather in a bright, imaginative, and accessible way. Set in the magical land of Weatherville -where the weather comes to life – each story brings weather and science to life through fun,magical storytelling.

Elayne is especially focused on early childhood audiences -her books are designed to spark curiosity, build early science awareness, and support emotional understanding alongside factual learning. Elayne’s book ‘Sally Sunshine and the Terrible Tantrum‘ won the Junior Children’s CAP Award 2025. The series currently includes five gorgeous titles, with a sixth book in development
Anthologies  Category. Judges Corina Duyn and Dolores Ronayne
 
 
 
Non-Fiction Category. Judge Josephine Brady
 
As Cavan County Librarian for over two decades, Josephine Brady dedicated her life to the promotion of libraries, reading and literature. Connecting readers with great writing is her passion and privilege. In 2014, a cancer diagnosis abruptly ended Josephine’s career, but did not diminish her drive to bring readers and great writing together.

A personal quest for solace in the finest cancer writing morphed into the concept for her first book, The Breath of Consolation: Finding Solace in Cancer Literature. Encompassing novels, memoirs, poetry, short stories, and more, Josephine introduces works that are empowering, empathetic and consoling. Truly, medicine for the soul for all readers suffering because of cancer.

Winning Best Non-Fiction Book 2025 at the CAP Awards 2025 was an honour and a privilege. She is forever grateful to CAP for expanding awareness of her work among readers nationwide. Heartened by the recognition of the CAP judges, Josephine has begun work on her next work.

 

 

 

 
Best Cover Design Category. Judge Stephanie Devlin
 
Stephanie was a recipient of the CAP award for best cover design’ in 2025.
 
She is delighted to be invited back to assist in deciding who will be awarded the category in 2026. 
 
Stephanie is a Psychoanalyst and Psychotherapist in private practice in Dublin.
 
She considers writing a creative act, offering a portal into the inner world of the human mind.
 
The telling of stories is how a person constructs meaning and navigates experience.
 
She believes, it is in the writing of those stories that we discover ways to understand human behaviour, find solutions, even heal ourselves. 
 
Stephanie loves long walks with her dogs. She has a deep appreciation for the natural world and unspoilt places.  
 

 

 
 

Novel Category. Judges Monica Corish and Tom Sigafoos.


Monica Corish came to writing via the scenic, roundabout route. After studying science, she trained as a nurse, received an  MA in International Development Studies, and travelled and worked widely in Europe and Africa.

Her short fiction has won the University of Kent Fiction Prize and a Myslexia Flash Challenge. She has been shortlisted for the Hennessy Emerging Fiction Prize, the Merriman and Michael McLaverty Story Awards, and the Fish Flash Fiction Prize. Her stories have been published in The Stinging Fly, The Hennessy Book of Irish Fiction 2005-2015, Myslexia, SaveAsWriters.co.uk, www.substack.com/@thrutopia, The Ekphrastic Review, The Irish Independent, and The Irish Times.

Monica’s poetry has been published widely in Ireland and the UK.

Creative nonfiction and short stories by Irish-American author Tom Sigafoos have appeared in The Quiet Quarter Anthology: Ten Years of Great Irish Writing and many literary journals. His novel Pool of Darkness: Raymond Chandler in Ireland was shortlisted for the 2025 CAP Fiction Prize, and an early version of Pool was shortlisted for the Penny Dreadful Novella Prize. His radio memoir An American Scrapbook is posted on SoundCloud.

A member of WORD, the Irish Writers’ Centre and the Irish Writers’ Union, Tom has served as Chair and PRO of the Allingham Arts Association.

Monica and Tom live in north-west Ireland.