The BBC World Service International Radio Playwriting Competition

Listen to The Cactus Flowers now on BBC iPlayer

The Ravens will be broadcast on BBC World Service on 25th April at 11pm (BST) 10pm (GMT) and on BBC iPlayer for 30 days

This competition does have about the longest official title in the world – the BBC World Service/British Council International Radio Playwriting Competition, co-produced with The Open University, in partnership with Commonwealth Writers. But don’t let that put you off! It is all those partners working with BBC World Service who enable us to keep what I think is one of the most wondrous competitions in the world alive.

Where else could you be a first time writer and have your play broadcast to up 40 million listeners across the world? Who else actively encourages those who write in their 2nd (or even 3rd, 4th or 5th) language? Where else can your play be heard in so many countries across the world?

We now have 3 prizes: for best script with English as 2nd language, best script with English as a 1st language and the Georgi Markov prize for the most promising script. All the winners come to London and the first two plays are recorded in their entirety for broadcast on BBC World Service.

We received nearly 1000 scripts from a record 86 countries. And you don’t have to be a first time writer! You can be published and experienced. Our winners were both this year. The plays are all read by teams of readers, a shortlist is selected and a panel of judges makes the final decisions. This year’s judges included the actor Henry Goodman, the writer Winsome Pinnock and the theatre director, Kully Thiarai.

This year’s winner of the English as a 2nd language prize was Virginia Jekanyika from Zimbabwe. Her play, “The Cactus Flowers”, focuses on 3 women in the beautiful safari resort of Kariba who are trying to set up a business and escape being cleaners and maids. Virginia says, “Coming to the UK was life-changing. I feel like my little voice has been amplified to the world and the story of many African women has been told and I know this is the beginning of good things in my career”. You can hear her play this Saturday 11 April at 2300 BST or on BBC iPlayer

Winner of the English as a 1st language prize was Alana Valentine from Australia. Her play, set in the red light district of Sydney, is about a woman who has been paid compensation and is trying to escape her life as a sex worker. Alana says, “I think the World Service is a unique and essential champion of diversity and plurality of opinion and I’m delighted to be revealing an aspect of Australian life on air with The Ravens.”

The Ravens is broadcast on Saturday 25 April at 22:00 GMT (23:00 BST) and repeated on Thursday 30 April 2015 at 01:00 GMT (02:00 BST).  Listen on BBC iPlayer for 30 days following the broadcast.

The Competition (this was the 24th) invites anyone outside the UK to send a 53 minute radio drama script on the subject of their choice with a maximum of 6 characters. We’re looking for scripts that tell a great story, with strong dialogue and characters, a powerful sense of place and a distinctive author’s voice.

Judges of the Competition in the past have included Doris Lessing, Kwame Kwei Armah, Lennie James, Eileen Atkins, Indira Varma, Roy Williams, Biyi Bandele, Ayesha Dharker, Robin Lustig, Rose Tremain and Wole Soyinka.

Plays have arrived in a variety of forms – some hand-written in exercise books, others accompanied by photographs and drawings. The most unusual came from Africa, written in pencil on the back of betting slips. Another, from India, was delivered wrapped in a silk handkerchief.

Scripts are not forgotten. A young woman writing from Bangladesh reached the shortlist, but didn’t win because her play was too short. However she was contacted by World Service Drama and invited to attend a Radio Drama Writing Residency for second language writers. She replied: “I have never believed that dreams really do come true,” was subsequently awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to do an M.A. in English literature in Philadelphia and is now teaching at a University in Dhaka.

A previous winner from South Africa was commissioned to write a second play for BBC World Service. He took to heart the comments of one of the leading actors in his first play, who had observed that her part was smaller than the other actors’. After finishing the first draft of his second play, the playwright cut up all the parts and weighed them. He wrote additional lines for some actors and cut others’ scenes until each part weighed the same.

The next Competition will be launched in October 2015. Entrants complete an application form, which accompanies their play and a synopsis. You can find details on the website from October.

Find out more about the International Radio Playwriting Competition

Meet the winners