Imison Award 2006
We are pleased to announce the winners of the Richard Imison Award. These were presented on 3 October 2006 by Fiona Shaw, for the best plays broadcast during 2005.
The Imison Award for best original radio drama script by a writer new to radio went to Nazrin Choudhury for Mixed Blood. The play will be repeated on Radio 4 on 24 October 2006 at 14.15 and then be made available on demand for a week at www.bbc.co.uk
The Peggy Ramsay Foundation donated the £1,500 prize-money and Nazrin was given a year’s membership of the Society. Naomi Gryn, Jury Chairman, commented:
"The play had great humanity, a clear plot and emotional depth -
both in terms of a young woman escaping from the shadow of her
late mother and the backdrop of arranged marriages and mixed
relationships. Skilfully propelled by dialogue the story seemed
wholly authentic, with not a false line anywhere, and which also
had the effect of creating characters you could easily identify
with. You cared about them." (....commentary sent by the Society
of Authors)
ND comment - the play was about an Asian girl who discovers
her mother had an affair with an Englishman many years ago. Perhaps
she isn't quite as
Asian as she thinks .... this was an excellent piece of work.
Nazrin Choudhury has written for several television shows
such as EastEnders, Doctors and Casualty as well as developing her
own original drama work for both screen and radio.
The shortlist was:
Mixed Blood by Nazrin Choudhury
Reality Check by Carol Leeming (developed in conjuction
with Haymarket Theatre, Leicester; concerns the problems of dyslexia.
Dead Code: Ghosts of the Digital Age by Jeff Noon (excellent
sci-fi tale set in the distant future when computer code is a distant
memory)
Folie à Trois by Sarah Wooley (thought-provoking love story)
The Waterbucks by Adrian Penketh (set in Hongkong, around
the time of the handover to China, but there's a lot more to it than this)
The Judges were: Naomi Gryn (Chairman), Roger Bolton, Siân Busby, Edwina Currie, David Docherty, Paul Donovan, Christopher Lee, Sarah LeFanu, Don Shaw and Michelene Wandor.
compiled by Nigel Deacon / Diversity website
Many thanks to Jo Hodder for supplying information and pictures.
