The O'Connor Literary Award

Called after the O'Connor family, in whose honour it was originally sponsored by Professor Michael Allsopp, the Award is now promoted and sponsored by Newbridge Silverware and its CEO, William Doyle. The Trophy is perpetual but the handsome replica comes with the compliments of Newbridge Silverware, Ireland's oldest family-run silverware business.

The Gerard Manley Hopkins Summer School award is for outstanding contribution to the School and to Hopkins Scholarship The O'Connor Award was presented by the distinguished Hopkins scholar, Michael Allsopp.

This Award has become one of the highlights of the Gerard Manley Hopkins Festival

Each year, the Committee select, by ballot, a leading scholar or artist who has also made a SIGNIFICANT contribution to The Gerard Manley Hopkins Literary Festival for this Award. The criteria for this award therefore are:

	that the recipient be a distinguished writer / artist / Hopkins scholar
	that the recipient has made an enriching contribution to the The Gerard Manley Hopkins Summer School.

Past recipients of the O'Connor Award Since 1987

1996	Hugh Kenner, critic, scholar	Canada / USA
1997	James McKenna, sculptor	Ireland
1998	Joseph Feeney, SJ, scholar	USA
1999	Russell Murphy, scholar	USA
2000	William Langdon, scholar	USA
2001	Brian Arkins, scholar	Ireland
2002	Giuseppe Serpillo, scholar	Italy
2003	Alexandra Kedzierska, scholar	Poland
2004	Bruno Gaurier, Translator	France
2005	Peter Milward SJ, scholar	UK / Japan
2006	John Hunter artist	USA
2007	Hikaru Kitabayashi, scholar	Japan
2008	Sakiko Tagagi, scholar	Japan
2009	Robert Welch, scholar	N . Ireland