The Dalkey Literary Awards support writers resident in or born in Ireland and published in Ireland or the UK in 2021. There are two categories: Novel and Emerging Writer.

Publishers are invited to submit their nominations, up to a maximum of five titles in each category.  The closing date for receipt of nominations from publishers for the 2022 Awards was Friday 11^th February 2022.

There is a Nominating panel made up of 15 nominators including writers, literary agents, booksellers, academics and journalists. The Nominating Panel together nominate books published in 2021 by Irish writers and arrive at a shortlist of up to six books for each category. There are two distinct judging panels, one for each category, both made up of three members, typically an author, a journalist and a person in the public eye who loves reading. Each judging panel then reads the six shortlisted books for the relevant category before meeting on two occasions to agree one winner.

Authors need not be Irish but if not, then they must have been resident in Ireland for at least six months in each of the previous three years.

An emerging writer is widely defined and includes (but is not limited to) writers of fiction, non-fiction, literary history, biography, memoir, collections of poetry, essays and short stories. Emerging writers may include writers who have already published books and emerging writers may be of all ages.

The total prize fund is €30,000. The winner of the Novel of the Year Award receives €20,000 and the winner of the Emerging Writer Award receives €10,000. The winners in both categories will be announced on 18^th June 2022.