The final short-list, for Emerging Poetry, will be published next Sunday. This year's judges, chaired by Ciaran Carty, are the West Indian writer EA (Archie) Markham, who was short-listed for the TS Eliot Poetry Award in 2002, and Glenn Patterson, the Northern Ireland novelist whose 1988 debut novel Burning Your Own won the Rooney Prize.

Each Hennessy category winner receives a trophy and 1,500, and an overall New Irish Writer of the Year, chosen from the three winner, receives a further 2,500.

Katherine Duffywas born in Dundalk Her poetry collection The Erratic Behaviour of Tides was published by Dedalus Press in 1999, and she is currently completing her second collection.

She has had stories published previously in New Irish Writing, and also writes fiction in Irish.

She lives in Dublin where she works as a translator in the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Georgina Eddison, who lives in Straffan, Co Kildare, worked as a psychotherapist for some years before returning to her first love, writing. She has an M Phil in Creative Writing from Trinity College. Her poetry has appeared in Broadsheet, Cyphers, The Shop and New Irish Writing. Several of her short stories have also been published. She is currently working on a novel.

Anne Kelly was born and bred in Dublin. She now lives in the Dublin Mountains with her husband and two teenage daughters. She's published poetry and short stories over the past 15 years. She has also written an (as yet unpublished) children's novel and is working on a second. She's a long standing member of the Aisling Writer's Group in South Dublin.

Brendan Granahan studied at UCG before moving to New York, where he now lives. He has written a number of stories triggered by a young man on his way to work on the morning of 11 September 2001 which he has developed into a novel Heaven and Earth which he is currently completing.

Thomas Martin was born in Dublin in 1981. He studied English literature and Creative Writing at UCD and Trinity College, Dublin.

His work has appeared in Watermarks, Southword and the Sunday Tribune. He was first shortlisted for a New Irish Writing Award in 2003. He has travelled extensively in the Far East.

Aran Rafferty began writing in 2002 after a chance encounter with a creative writing class hosted by Jean O'Brien. Since then he has continued writing and nine of his short stories have been published.

He was nominated for a First Fiction Hennessy Award in 2003 and for a Francis McManus Award in 2005. He is currently completing a novel, set at a scientific research institute in present-day Dublin.