The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature was created in 1976 by the Irish American businessman Dan Rooney, owner and chairman of the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers franchise and former US Ambassador to Ireland. The prize is awarded to Irish writers aged under 40 who are published in Irish or English. Although often associated with individual books, it is intended to reward a body of work. Originally worth £750, the current value of the prize is €10,000. List of recipients 1976: Heno Magee 1977: Desmond Hogan 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) 2008: Leontia Flynn, Drives (poems) 2009: Kevin Power, Bad Day in Blackrock 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 References and footnotes Awards established in 1976 Irish literary awards Literary awards honouring young writers Political book