International Radio Playwriting Competition 2013
By John Morrison
The BBC has announced the World Service International Radio Playwriting Competition in partnership with the British Council. The competition is now in its 24th year.
There are two first prizes – the best radio play by a writer with English as their first language and the best by a writer with English as their second language. The overall winners will each receive £2000 sterling and a trip to London to see their play being recorded for broadcast on BBC World Service.
This year’s competition is run in partnership with Commonwealth Writers again with co-producers – The Open University. This has allowed them to introduce another prize – the Georgi Markov prize for the most promising script.
The playwriting competition welcomes scripts from anyone living outside the UK, whether established or new, and encourages writers to use the immense power and accessibility of the medium of radio drama – to their your story, use their imagination and have their “voice” heard.
This is a fabulous opportunity for radio playwrights from around the world to have their work produced professionally by the very best radio drama department in the world.
I would encourage writers to make the most of this chance and to enter the competition.
Before entering the competition, make sure your play is in the best possible shape. Polish it and hone it until it you can do no more with it. Don’t simply hope that the readers will be able to see all the great stuff you intended, but which somehow isn’t on the page. The reader’s job is not to take a leap of faith and to predict the great work that might have been. His/her job is to read and be touched or moved by what’s on the page, not by what’s in your head.
To this end, have a competent working writer or script editor look over your work. None of us and I mean none of us, can read our own work in any objective way. Neither can our buddies or our families. So get the best help you can. You will see the benefits and you only get one chance.
The competition is now open for entries and the closing date is midnight GMT on the 31st January 2014.
For more information check the website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0043kb2/profiles/international-p0043kb2
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