Meet our 2026 Judges!
We're delighted to welcome our 2026 Dublin Fringe Festival awards judges to this year's proceedings! Every year, Dublin Fringe Festival invites a panel of experts from Irish cultural life to become Fringe Award Judges. They are tasked with choosing nominees and recipients for the prestigious awards. Dublin Fringe Awards recognise, reward and celebrate the talent on display at our festival each year. You can read more about the awards on page 109 of our brochure.
Chair of the Judges’ Panel - Ciarán Walsh
Ciarán's previous roles include General Manager at Dublin Theatre Festival, Managing Director at Druid, Line Producer for Riverdance, and Cultural Events Co-ordinator for the Dept of Foreign Affairs. He joined Culture Ireland in 2012 and while there, delivered special initiatives including the international programmes for the EU Presidency (2013), Ireland 2016 and Zeitgeist Irland 24. He also oversaw Culture Ireland's Showcase programme and most recently, was Culture Ireland's Associate Director, creating and developing international opportunities for Irish artists. He was a member of the Arts Council from 2011 to 2016 and board memberships include Macnas and Irish Theatre Magazine.
Aiesha Wong
Instagram: @aiiwong
Aiesha Wong is a Chinese-Irish photographer, videographer, dancer, and movement director based in Dublin. Alongside her creative practice, she works at POD, an Irish independent concert and festival promoter. With a career spanning music, live events, and artist campaigns, Aiesha has experienced the industry from both a creative and promotional perspective. Her work spans photo, film, and more. With a background in dance, movement is central to her approach; whether she’s behind the camera or directing in front of it. Her experience across the creative and business sides of the industry shapes her visual storytelling.
Christie Kandiwa
Instagram: @kayssiek
Kayssie K., also known as Christie K. Kandiwa, is a playwright, poet, and singer-songwriter. She was awarded Poet Laureate of Bray, County Wicklow in 2021, recognised as one of seventy women to shape Irish culture and as rising talent in the All-Ireland Marketing (AIM) Awards. Kayssie has written and performed multidisciplinary theatre productions, with work presented at leading literary and arts festivals across Ireland and internationally, including the United States curriculum, performances in Edinburgh and the Government's Shared Island Symphony initiative. Her theatre work includes Ruvheneko, See x Sea, The Language I Cannot Speak, and The Crow's Way.
Colm McCready
Instagram: @colmmccready
Colm is a theatre-maker and was the first associate artist of SkelpieLimmer Productions. Together they produced "Scaredy Fat" which won the Les Enfants' Terribles LET Award and was nominated for four Dublin Fringe Awards including Best Performer and Spirit of Wit Moira Brady Averill Award.Along with Fergus Wachala-Kelly he created "SHAME SHOW" which debuted at Dublin Fringe Festival and won the First Fortnight Award 2024. The show performed at Outburst Queer Arts, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and Gothenburg Fringe Festival where it won the GEST Best in Fest Award.Colm was recently a Box of Tricks artist with Abbey Theatre.
Day Magee
Instagram: @daymagee
Day Magee is an artist, performer and writer based in Dublin. Their multidisciplinary practice centres the body in time and space, and the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and enact. They most recently staged sold out show "On The Way: An Artist's Sermon" at Project Arts Centre.
E the Artist
Instagram: @etheartistdublin
Garnering a fierce reputation both in Ireland and abroad despite minimal recorded output, the artist known as E instead boasts his infamy on the live circuit. The Nigerian-born, Dublin-based musician impressed over the years with a slew of memorable performances inspired by AfroPunkism, recontextualising contemporary black club genres into their loudest and most intense iterations. Following a brief side quest to Vienna early in 2025, E returned to Dublin relieved by the tangibility in familiarity of his surroundings.
Farah Elle
Instagram: @farahelle
Farah El Neihum - otherwise known as Farah Elle, began composing music at the age of 10, teaching herself to play the piano and writing poetry to coincide with it. After acquiring a degree in Songwriting, she qualified in various holistic healing methods, exploring music & movement as a means of personal development. Along with being an established performing Artist, she facilitates music & wellness workshops to people of all ages and creeds. Weaving Arabic melodies into the tapestry of her sound, Farah’s compositions meld her combined North African and Irish heritage, creating work that is thoroughly contemporary and completely her own.
Jack Scullion
Instagram: @jacksculliondesign
Jack Scullion is a multidisciplinary performance designer, illustrator, and arts worker with a practice rooted in the alchemy of storytelling, craft, and play. Costume design credits include Rough Magic’s 'Tonic' and ANÚ’s site-specific productions 'The Book of Names' and 'Faultline'. Set and costume design credits include Ballet Ireland’s multi-year 'Nutcracker Sweeties' and Irish National Opera’s 'A Thing I Cannot Name'. Jack’s illustrative practice centres on character and sequential art, frequently exploring themes of fantasy and queerness. He is the administrator for Safe to Create, and also mentors emerging artists through institutions like The Lir Academy and National Youth Theatre.
James Ireland
Instagram: @jjjjames.ireland
James is a disabled theatre artist and co-founder of award-winning eco gig theatre company Bradán (Axis Green Arts Award, and awarded support by PAN PAN Platform, Dublin Fringe 2022; VAULT x Staging Change Award 2022). They were part of the ensemble that won the Best Ensemble award at Dublin Fringe 2024 with Illness as Metaphor by Dead Centre. James has recently composed for work performed across Ireland, Belgium, the UK, and in China – live scoring with violin, cello, electric guitar, uilleann pipes, electronic processors, and more. Their writing has recently been produced by Summerhall and Pleasance Courtyard at Edinburgh Fringe, Wuzhen Festival in China, Dublin Fringe Festival, VAULT Festival, and two short plays published by Fishamble.
Liath Hannon
Instagram: @liath.hannon
Liath Hannon is an Irish actress and playwright working across theatre and screen. As a theatre-maker, she received critical acclaim for her one-woman play The Dolldrums (2025), for which she was both writer and performer. Liath made her feature debut in Girls and Boys (2025), produced by Break Out Pictures, which won Best Independent Film at the Galway Film Fleadh. She received Best Performance in a Feature Film at the Irish Film Festival Los Angeles in 2026. She has since appeared in Lydia (2026), produced by Fine Point Films, and The Rachel Incident, produced by Element Pictures for Channel 4.
Niamh Ní Chonchubhair
Instagram: @niamh_n1c
Niamh is a creative producer and programmer working across theatre, film, festivals and community arts. Currently Consultant Producer at An Taibhdhearc, the National Irish Language Theatre, she recently produced the short film 'Babysitter', which premiered at Dublin International Film Festival. She has commissioned and produced shows that have toured nationally and internationally, alongside cross-border and youth-arts projects. Previously Artistic Director/CEO of axis: Ballymun, Niamh has spent almost two decades championing artists and bringing good stories, well told, to life. Her practice is rooted in language, belonging and community - and in the sparks that fly when artists and audiences come together.
Robyn Byrne
Instagram: @ robin.red.breast
Robyn is a contemporary dancer, choreographer and movement director based in Dublin. For the past eight years, she has worked extensively as a freelance performer with Irish choreographers and artists, while also making her own work and collaborating on projects across theatre and film as a choreographer and movement director. Robyn is currently a full time Company Dancer with Luail, Ireland’s National Dance Company.
Shane Holohan
Instagram: @takingflightdublin
Shane Holohan is a director, arts leader and founder of Taking Flight, a Dublin-based circus and performance organisation. His directing and creative practice spans contemporary circus, aerial performance, street arts and interdisciplinary performance, alongside producing and developing new work with artists and cultural partners across Ireland. Since founding Taking Flight in 2014, he has focused on creating opportunities for artists to experiment, develop and perform, while widening access to ambitious artistic experiences. Shane also has an extensive background in education and currently works in professional learning and creativity with Oide.
Tatiana dos Santos
Instagram: @tatidsantos
Tatiana Santos is an anti-disciplinary artist, journalist, and cultural mediator. A leading voice in bringing Brazilian rhythms to Irish dance spaces, she uses movement and performance to explore the commonalities that unite us. Projects include the awardwinning production Hive City Legacy (Hot Brown Honey, Dublin Fringe 2022), Threads (Solo Sirens Festival 2023–2024), Hungry Grass/Stray Sod (Wandering Stories Theatre, Dublin Fringe 2025), and The Welcoming Project with Catherine Young Dance (ongoing). She is currently Artist in Residence at Cork Opera House/UCC and is one of the contributors to the book Contemporary Socially Engaged Art Practice in Ireland (Cork University Press).