NLI announces Poetry Aloud 2025 winners

The annual competition celebrates the art of poetry recitation and is open to post-primary students across the island of Ireland.

This year’s Overall Winner is Luke Power, a Intermediate Category participant from Ramsgrange Community School in Wexford. Luke captivated the judges with his recitation of  Among Treetops by Alvy Carragher. He was presented with the Seamus Heaney Poetry Aloud trophy by the Director of the NLI, Dr Audrey Whitty.

2025 Poetry Aloud Winners

• Junior Category:

  • Winner: Bríd O Driscoll from St Mary's Secondary School Macroom, Co. Cork
  • Runner-up: Fergal Ó’Corcoráin from Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne Dingle, Co. Kerry

• Intermediate Category:

  • Winner and Overall Winner: Luke Power from Ramsgrange Community School, Co. Wexford
  • Runner-up: Jack Monaghan from De La Salle College Belfast, Co. Antrim

• Senior Category:

  • Winner: Roísín Duke from Mean Scoil Mhuire, Co. Longford
  • Runner-up: Shay Collins from Glenamaddy Community School, Co. Galway

A Celebration of Talent

This year’s competition drew participants from every corner of Ireland, with entries that highlighted the strong and vibrant connection between young people and the country’s rich poetic heritage. Finalists were chosen from hundreds of submissions representing a broad range of schools and counties—clear evidence of the enduring appeal of poetry and the power of spoken performance.

Congratulations to all the participants and winners of Poetry Aloud 2025 for their remarkable dedication to the craft of poetry recitation.

Read the full press release.