The Hedgemaster Archives is our link to our heritage. Please browse our rich collection of Irish culture and history to learn some more of our lineage. We have significantly added to our collection, so take a look at the new additions!
Contest Details
The Annual Writing Contest is named in honor of Martin J. Kelly, a founding member of the society and its past president for 23 years until his passing on July 2, 2015.
To learn more about Martin, please click here.
2019 Writing Contest Underway
Welcome to the Martin J. Kelly Writing Contest!
This year, our contest will challenge students to write an interior monologue presenting the thoughts of an Irish soldier fighting in the British army in World War I. The Irish artist William Orpen’s painting “Thinker on the Butte,” shown on the left, provides a visual image of such an Irish soldier.
Contest entrants will “rent a space” in the head of an Irish soldier. What is he thinking about? Survival? Home? Comrades? The rising against the British in his native Ireland in 1916? The “Christmas Truce” and so on? The writers have free rein to create the thoughts of their soldiers. We ask the entrant to write a 300-400 word monologue.
We will honor the winners and their families and the teachers who had so much to do with their success. Join us as we express our appreciation to teenagers who took up our challenge and to our sponsor, The H.W. Wilson Foundation. We will give a copy of A Traveler's History of Ireland to the libraries of all the schools which sent us an entry.
