Alfred Bradley Bursary Award 2011
|16:55 UK time, Thursday, 14 July 2011
Today, BBC Radio Drama have launched our bi-annual Alfred Bradley Bursary Award. It is a fantastic and unique opportunity for Northern writers interested in writing for radio.
It seems to be harder than ever at the moment for writers to get their big break in any medium, be it radio, TV, film or theatre. As the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award has an open submissions process, it provides a real opportunity for bold and original writing to shine through, especially for those writers who perhaps haven't yet built up a writing CV, as every entry is judged on the merits of a single submitted script (in any format) and a separate, one page radio drama idea.
As the Producer for Radio Drama Development I will be running the award in partnership with the Writersroom, and alongside Jo Combes, New Writing Development Manager, we will blogging about any Award updates, as well as trying to answer any questions which crop up which are not covered in the FAQ.
To begin proceedings though, we thought you might be interested in hearing from Rachel Dixon, one of our judges this year and the daughter of Alfred Bradley, the distinguished BBC drama producer whose life and work the Award commemorates. Alfred Bradley joined the BBC in 1959 as a radio drama producer and went on to make an immeasurable contribution to the development of radio drama. His work was widely recognised as outstanding, especially as he set out to enhance the drama tradition of the North, broadcasting the work of the region's writers and actors to national audiences. Among the dramatists Alfred helped to launch during his career were Henry Livings, Alan Plater, Keith Waterhouse, Alan Ayckbourn and Stan Barstow.
Rachel Dixon
First and foremost, we would to thank for the BBC for their incredible support and belief in the bursary over the past 20 years. Dad absolutely loved the radio and he had a passion for storytelling. He loved all aspects of the creative process of producing plays - working closely with the writers, actors and technicians and everyone behind the scenes. He got enormous satisfaction when working with new talent and he had a very special way of encouraging and nurturing aspiring writers and actors.
This year is the 20th anniversary of my fathers' death and it is a huge testament to him that the bursary's reputation continues to grow from strength to strength. The bursary is an amazing legacy to my fathers' career, which the Bradley family are incredibly proud of. Thank you for taking part and we all hope that this years awards will discover another wonderful writer.
Further details about entering the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award, including entry requirements, FAQ, script examples and an entry form can be found here on the Writersroom website.
Comment number 1.
At 10:37 18th Jul 2011, joylud wrote:This looks like a terrific opportunity, but why is it that so many competitions are area specific? Living in the Midlands, I seem to be excluded from them all.
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Comment number 2.
At 17:27 25th Jul 2011, Amanda wrote:There are plenty of area specific writing competitions knocking around - if not here then on many other screenwriting websites that run them on a regular basis. And, yes, this is a great opportunity but you've got to feel sorry for us poor northerners - we only get this one every two years!
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Comment number 3.
At 15:17 1st Aug 2011, Jane wrote:Hello joylud, for a small fee you could rent my address, I live in Liverpool:-) Te he. Er.... only joking Writers Room.
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Comment number 4.
At 10:52 2nd Aug 2011, joylud wrote:Ha ha thanks Jane, I like your style! : D
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Comment number 5.
At 19:50 5th Aug 2011, denbocheatalot wrote:This is well good for ‘northern’ writers whose careers have been bobbins so far. It’s like getting home from the chippy on a Friday night and finding the dippy girl’s wrapped TWO steak puddings up with your chips instead of one, alright she forgot the mushy peas but still quids in aren’t yer? I’m a northerner and I’ve been thinking about this even more than if Ashley Young is another shrewd investment by Fergie or another Juan Veron – only time will tell. Anyway, so, my advice to all northern writers thinking of entering The Alfred Bradley Biennial Bursary Award is wait until next years. By then you’ll have twelve months more writing under your belt and erm? I’ll have won it. There's method in the magners.
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Comment number 6.
At 12:26 20th Aug 2011, denbocheatalot wrote:I can't believe you're all so busy writing that you can't have a go on this blog?
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Comment number 7.
At 15:51 23rd Aug 2011, Jane wrote:I've noticed that writers who blog never seem to win.... so I'm trying not to .... blog that is. Better get back to my play ..... much too busy writing to read this.
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Comment number 8.
At 17:46 25th Aug 2011, denbocheatalot wrote:I have now formatted my play and narrowed the subject matter down to one of three genre's and (well in advance of my schedule) I have a working title. Added to this is the whizzo app I have just written which goes through your dialogue, analyses the syntax and the semantics of both the sentence and the paragraph and replaces all adjectives with active and exciting verbs! As everybody know "writing is re-writing" so I've also invented an app that's based on artificial intelligence constructs that emulates the active mind of a choice of six contemporary and famous writers (choose from comedy, drama & soap) then simply enter a premise and it types it for you. And if that's not enough... Sorry got to go and take my purple tablet now - there the one's that stop me from screaming. Bye.
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Comment number 9.
At 14:36 14th Sep 2011, Jane wrote:Phew!!!! FINISHED! But can Royal Mail get my script from Liverpool to London in one day? Hmm!
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Comment number 10.
At 10:09 19th Sep 2011, helenhelen wrote:Does anyone know when /whether we get an email acknowledgement for the Alfred Bradley submissions?
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Comment number 11.
At 14:13 19th Sep 2011, Jane wrote:I remember reading on the application form that an acknowledgement would be emailed, but it doesn't mention when. I guess a long time .... they'll have to type in hundreds and hundreds of email addresses first.
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Comment number 12.
At 14:26 21st Sep 2011, asunnyday wrote:I've had mine today.
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Comment number 13.
At 20:22 17th Oct 2011, andyne1 wrote:Just had my email today and...I wasn't successful. Anybody else heard anything?
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Comment number 14.
At 08:53 18th Oct 2011, Jane wrote:Hi andyne1, I too heard that I hadn't made it through. I was very depressed... I kind of knew that I wasn't going to win the Alfred Bradley, but knowing that I hadn't even made the first hurdle was very fed-uppying:-( I'm looking at the channel4 competition now and 'Opening Lines'. Chin up all.
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