2025

Sara Parker introduces the nominees and winners of the Charles Parker Prize 2025 set up in memory of her father. The prize, now in its 20th year, celebrates the very best of a new generation of young audio feature-makers. Pioneering BBC radio producer Charles Parker worked alongside folk music icons Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, to create the ground-breaking series of ‘Radio Ballads’ during the late 1950s and 60s . The Ballads brought the voices and stories of ordinary people and communities to the airwaves, changing the sound of audio storytelling at the time by interweaving MacColl and Seeger’s music narrative through interview and actuality.

The prizes are awarded to five innovative students who celebrate and challenge ways of creative audio storytelling. This year’s entries also included features from community run media courses including London’s ‘Transmission Roundhouse’ and ‘In the Dark’ in addition to university and college courses.

Presenter Sara Parker, herself an award-winning radio producer, hears from the ten finalists as their share their experiences of creating their nominated audio features and includes a chance to hear extracts from the prize-winning features of: Shadé Joseph, Kieran Callaghan, Sarah Warren, Jenny Davies and Sofiia Fylypiv, as well as the five other nominees; Bobbi Bunker, Caitlin Kennedy, Chloe Turpin, Emma Ratyal-Brooks and Matthew Hallsworth.

If anyone who has been affected by some of the content within this programme, details of help and support is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

And you can hear the five winning features, in full, including the Gold winner of the Charles Parker Prize 2025, all this week on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

Producer: Talia Augustidis (Gold Winner of the Charles Parker Prize 2022)

A Soundscape production for BBC Radio 4 Extra.