• 1976:
Heno Magee • 1978:
Peter Sheridan • 1979:
Kate Cruise O'Brien,
A Gift Horse (short stories) • 1980:
Bernard Farrell • 1981:
Neil Jordan • 1982:
Medbh McGuckian; Special prize awarded to
Seán Ó Tuama and
Thomas Kinsella for
An Duanaire / Poems of the Dispossessed • 1983: Dorothy Nelson, ''In Night's City'' (novel) • 1984:
Ronan Sheehan • 1985:
Frank McGuinness,
Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (play) • 1986:
Paul Mercier • 1987:
Deirdre Madden,
Hidden Symptoms (novel) • 1988:
Glenn Patterson,
Burning Your Own (novel) • 1989:
Robert McLiam Wilson,
Ripley Bogle (novel) • 1990:
Mary Dorcey,
A Noise from the Woodshed (short stories) • 1991:
Anne Enright,
The Portable Virgin (short stories) • 1992:
Hugo Hamilton • 1993: Gerard Fanning (poet) • 1994:
Colum McCann,
Fishing the Sloe-Black River (short stories) • 1995:
Philip MacCann,
The Miracle Shed (short stories) • 1996:
Mike McCormack,
Getting It in the Head (short stories); additional Special Award presented to
Vona Groarke and
Conor O'Callaghan • 1997:
Anne Haverty,
One Day as a Tiger (novel) • 1998:
David Wheatley,
Thirst (poems) • 1999:
Mark O'Rowe,
Howie the Rookie (play) • 2000:
Claire Keegan,
Antarctica (short stories), Special award presented to
David Marcus. • 2001:
Keith Ridgway,
Standard Time (short stories) • 2002:
Caitríona O’Reilly,
The Nowhere Birds (poems) • 2003:
Eugene O'Brien,
Eden (play) • 2004:
Claire Kilroy,
All Summer (novel) • 2005:
Nick Laird,
To a Fault (poems) • 2006:
Philip Ó Ceallaigh,
Notes from a Turkish Whorehouse (short stories) • 2007:
Kevin Barry,
There Are Little Kingdoms (short stories) [https://web.archive.org/web/20080220214335/http://www.stingingfly.org/therearelittlekingdoms.html • 2008:
Leontia Flynn,
Drives (poems) • 2010:
Leanne O'Sullivan,
Cailleach: The Hag Of Beara • 2011:
Lucy Caldwell • 2012:
Nancy Harris • 2013:
Ciarán Collins • 2014:
Colin Barrett • 2015:
Sara Baume • 2016:
Doireann Ní Ghríofa • 2017:
Elizabeth Reapy • 2018:
Caitriona Lally • 2019:
Mark O'Connell • 2020:
Stephen Sexton,
If All the World and Love Were Young • 2021:
Niamh Campbell,
This Happy • 2022:
Seán Hewitt • 2023:
Michael Magee,
Close to Home • 2024:
Suad Aldarra, ''
I Don't Want to Talk About Home'' • 2025:
Ferdia Lennon,
Glorious Exploits ==References and footnotes==