Tinniswood Award 2026

NOTES ON THE PLAYS

5 Nov 24: Life and Time, 1: Fourteen Years
By James Fritz. Play set behind prison walls. Two prisoners are on ‘Imprisonment for Public Protection’ sentences. The first is a young man who has committed his first offence. The second is a returning prisoner who is now in his late 70s and struggling to cope with life in prison. Background: In 2002 the Home Secretary David Blunkett introduced a new type of sentence, intended to protect the public from those who had committed serious crimes. Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) gave judges the power to grant open-ended, indeterminate sentences to those regarded as too dangerous to be released when the term of their original sentence had expired. But theory and practice turned out to be different. Martin ….. Connor Finch, John ….. Kenneth Cranham, Prison Officer Rose ….. Robert Glenister, Kate ….. Kacey Ainsworth, Sammy ….. Ty Tennant. Producer.... Tracey Neale. Sound Design, Keith Graham. Production Co-Ordinator, Ben Hollands.

Bibi
By Waleed Akhtar (subscription needed); directed by Tessa Walker; Audible, 67 minutes. Yasmin’s career is finally taking off. After years of fighting for visibility in the theatre, the British-Pakistani actress lands the eponymous role of Mrs. Bibi – the ultimate aunty-ji – in a hit primetime sitcom. Her newfound success means a steady paycheck, the possibility of owning her own home, and a carefree fling with a charming young assistant director.

But when her estranged sister arrives with news of their mother, Yasmin’s hard-won stability is shaken to its core. Forced to reckon with her ambitions, her family’s needs, and her place in an industry that both elevates and exploits her identity, Yasmin’s world tilts in unexpected ways.

21 Nov 24: One Hundred and Fifty Days
By the late Oliver Emanuel. In 2023, Oliver was part way through writing a new play for radio when something happened to him and he found he could no longer read. He had brain cancer. He paused writing his play about a man and a woman caught in a rip tide, imagining the life they might have had together, and began a creative response to his illness. He wanted it broadcast. He also wanted his unfinished play broadcast. In order to fulfil his wishes, Kirsty Williams (his collaborator and producer) and Victoria Beesley (his life partner) abridged his writing on brain cancer and wove it through the unfinished play. The result is a unique view into the experience of cancer and of the slow disintegration of language that brain cancer can have. This is his story: part audio play ('The Great Wave') and part autobiography ('All My Reading'. Performed by Robin Laing, Shauna Macdonald and Robert Jack. Sound Design by Fraser Jackson. Produced by Kirsty Williams.

Nov 3 24: Star
By Sarah Wooley; a Radio 3 play about about the making of the movie 'A Star Is Born', with Judy Garland in the 1950s. The story - it is 1952 and Judy Garland, let go by MGM for her erratic behaviour, wants to make a comeback. She and soon-to-be husband Sid Luft start their own production company and get the rights to remake the classic 30s film 'A Star Is Born' as a musical. This time, they will be in control. Judy Garland....Lydia Wilson, Sid Luft....Carl Prekopp, Harold Arlen....Nigel Lindsay, Ira Gershwin....Allan Corduner, Jack Warner....David Hounslow, George Cukor....Samuel James, Warner's secretary....Andi Bickers, Taylor....Ian Dunnett Jnr, John Meyer....Nuhazet Diaz Cano. Sound by Peter Ringrose, Keith Graham and Andy Garrett. Piano played by Peter Ringrose. Production co-ordination by Jenny Mendez. Produced by Abigail le Fleming.

(....Shortlist and 'Bibi' summary sent by Theo Jones of the Society of Authors; thank you. Notes about the other plays are from the 'Radiolistings' site, edited by me for clarity - ND.)

Call for entries – Audio Drama Awards 2026

Help us continue to celebrate the best audio drama by sending in your entries for 2026. To be eligible, scripts will have to have been broadcast or made available online in the UK between 1 October 2023 and 31 October 2024.

Please apply with all supporting materials by Tuesday 4 October 2024.

Imison Award - £3,000

Best original script by a writer new to audio drama with the £3,000 prize sponsored by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society, the Peggy Ramsay Foundation.

Tinniswood Award - £3,000

Best original script of the year with the £3,000 prize sponsored by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS). The 2026 judges are Nell Leyshon, Christopher William Hill and Linda Marshall-Griffiths. The prize is this year administered by the WGGB.

With thanks to:

The Peggy Ramsay Foundation which seeks to perpetuate Peggy Ramsay’s ideals, by directly helping dramatists at very different stages of experience in ways which it is determined to keep as quick and unbureaucratic as possible.

The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS); this is a not-for-profit organisation started by writers for the benefit of all types of writers. Owned by its members, ALCS collects money due for secondary uses of writers’ work. It is designed to support authors and their creativity, to ensure they receive fair payment and see their rights are respected. It promotes and teaches the principles of copyright and campaigns for a fair deal. It represents over 110,000 members, and since 1977 has paid around £500 million to writers (www.alcs.co.uk).

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