The Donald Meek Award 2018 for the Gaelic Book of the Year has been presented to Roddy MacLean for his novel Còig Duillagan na Seamrag (fie Five Leaves of the Shamrock), at a ceremony at the National Piping Centre in Glasgow.
Roddy’s first novel, An Creanaiche (Sandstone Press), was shortlisted for the Donald Meek Award in 2015.
Additional funding from Bòrd na Gàidhlig has allowed the competition to broaden in recent years, and two other authors also went home with prizes – Marion F Morrison from Barra, who received a place on the Gaelic New Writers Awards programme with the Scottish Book Trust in 2017, was in second place with her debut poetry collection, Adhbhar ar Sòlais, and Angus Peter Campbell was awarded third prize for his crime novel Constabal Murdo.