Competition To Select A National Anthem
In June 1923, the Mail ran a competition to select an Irish national anthem (though Amhrán na bhFiann (The Soldiers Song) was used informally, it had not been adopted, and the W. T. Cosgrave's Executive Council was coming under pressure to choose an anthem to end confusion over whether to play Amhrán an BhFiann or God Save the King for the Irish Free State abroad. The paper appointed W. B. Yeats, Lennox Robinson and James Stephens to be the adjudicators, with a prize of fifty guineas on offer for the winning offer. However the adjudicators decided that none of the new compositions were of sufficient standard to win the fifty guineas. In 1928 the Free State finally adopted Amhrán na bhFiann as its anthem.
Publication dates
- 3 February 1823 — 1 February 1928 as the Dublin Evening Mail
- 2 February 1928 — 10 July 1962 as the Evening Mail.
Read more about this topic: Dublin Evening Mail
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