The Irish Times has always valued and promoted creative writing. It is the only newspaper in Ireland with a poetry editor. One of its former literary editors, novelist John Banville, is a Booker prize winner.

It's thus only fitting that the new home for the long-established Hennessy New Irish Writing pages will be at The Irish Times. The pages of new stories and poems will appear in The Irish Times in the Weekend section, on the last Saturday of every month, edited by Ciarán Carty.

Hennessy New Irish Writing was launched in 1968 in the Irish Press by the late David Marcus, and later moved to the Sunday Tribune in 1988. In 1971, the Hennessy Literary Awards were founded, to mark the best writing that appeared on the pages over a year. Since then, many winners have gone on to become established writers.

Those who have won in the past include playwright Marina Carr, Irish Times columnist Michael Harding, novelists Dermot Bolger, Joseph O'Connor, Colum McCann and Niamh Boyce, and poet Vona Groarke.

There are three categories writers can enter: first fiction, emerging fiction and emerging poetry.

Each year, one of the category winners is chosen as an overall winner.

Today, The Irish Times announces the 18 writers short-listed for the 2104 awards. They are: Sheila Armstrong, Louise Cole, Colm Reynor, Henrietta McKervey, Kevin Murphy, Mary Butler, Sara Baume, Dave Rudden, Elizabeth Brennan, Nathan O'Donnell, Ron Woods, Seán Coffey, Tess Harper, Simon Lewis, Anita Heffernan, John FitzGerald, Gavan Duffy and Davnet Heery.

Past judges of the award have included Elizabeth Bowen, William Trevor, Brian Friel, Molly Keane, Neil Jordan, Roddy Doyle, Patrick McCabe, and John Boyne. This year, they are writer and journalist Martina Devlin and Chinese-born novelist Xiaolu Guo.

Winners in each category receive €1,500, with the overall winner receiving an additional prize of €2,500.