The biennial International Radio Playwriting Competition is run by the BBC World Service and the British Council and is now in its eleventh year.

It is a competition for anyone resident outside Britain, to write a 60 minute radio drama for up to six characters. There are two categories: one for writers with English as their first language and one for writers with English as their second language. The two winners will come to London and see their play made into a full radio production, which will then be broadcast on the BBC World Service. They will also each receive a £2,500 prize and there are also prizes for the runners up.

The play must be in English, unpublished and must not have been previously produced in any medium. Whether you're experienced, new, or somewhere in between, we want to hear from you.

Just check the Rules and How to Enter sections below to find out more about sending us your play.

Please download the application form from here. The application deadline is Tuesday 31 March 2009.

Prizes
Once again, we have two first prizes: for the best play by a writer with English as their first language and for the best play by a writer with English as their second language. These two winners will each receive £2500 sterling and a trip to London to see their play being recorded for broadcast on BBC World Service in the World Drama slot.

• £2500 sterling for the overall winning playwright of the best play written with English as a first language and a trip to London to see the play being recorded and to attend a prize-giving evening.
• £2500 sterling for the overall winning playwright of the best play written with English as a second language and a trip to London to see the play being recorded and to attend a prizegiving evening.
• A prize of a digital or short wave radio for the best radio play to be written from each of the following geographical areas: The Americas; Europe; Africa and the Middle East; South Asia; Russia and the Caucasus; Asia and Pacific.
• BBC goodie bags for all writers whose plays reach the judges' final shortlist.

Rules - must be read first
Must be read in full before entering

1. Entrants should write a radio play of approximately sixty minutes length on any subject of their choice. The finished script must be a minimum of 50 pages of A4 paper (or equivalent) and a maximum of 75 pages (note, a rough guide is a minute per page; read and time your play if you can before you send it!). The play should have a maximum of six central characters (there may be up to 3 small "doubling" characters, too, who don't have more than a few lines each). Your play must be accompanied by a short synopsis which outlines the complete story of the play. This must be no more than 400 words.

2. The play must be the entrants' original, unpublished work. Professional and previously published writers are eligible to enter, but this is not a requirement of entry. The play must not have been professionally produced in any medium (an informal play-reading is acceptable; a play-reading with a professional director and in front of a non-paying audience is acceptable, but a performance involving payment to actors and/or a paying audience is not).

3. There are two categories for entry. One is for entrants who speak English as a first language and the other is for Entrants with English as a second language.

4. The BBC may require proof of eligibility for the selected category before announcing a winner.

5. In the case of an entry by two or more writers, we will need written or email confirmation from each writer involved that they are prepared to take a share of the prize money and are prepared to receive those funds from a nominee who will be one of the writers, as the prize money will be paid to one individual only. The nominee will be selected by the writers and it will be his or her responsibility to distribute these funds to the other writers and the organisers can take no responsibility for that aspect. The co-writers must all enter the same category and be eligible to do so.

6. The competition is open to anyone over the age of 16 at the closing date who is not normally a resident of the United Kingdom. However, entrants who are living/working in the UK temporarily for up to 12 months also qualify. Entrants must not be employees of the BBC or British Council or anyone connected with the competition or their close relatives.

7. No entrant may submit more than one play.

8. The play must be written substantially or entirely in English. Unfortunately, we do not have the facility to offer a translation service. Entries that have been translated must acknowledge this fact by giving a credit to the translator or translators. Entries that have been translated will be entered in the English as a First Language category.

9. The Judges' decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into. The BBC does not accept any responsibility for late, delayed, damaged, ineligible, fraudulent or lost entries. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt. The right is reserved for the whole script not to be read if it is clear that the quality of writing or subject matter is unsuitable or in breach of these rules.

10. The BBC regrets it is unable to acknowledge receipt of plays or return entries, so remember to keep a copy.

11. The play entered in the competition must not, at the time it is submitted, have been offered for publication, performance or broadcast in any other form or medium to any other person or company. The winning plays will be deemed to have entered into an undertaking not to accept offers for their entries from other broadcasters or publishers before December 2009.

12. As with any new play, the BBC may require further drafts and revisions of the winning plays. Winners must be willing and able to undertake redrafting and revision work in conjunction with the BBC. This work is likely to take place between August and September 2009 and the winning entrants will need to keep time free to achieve this. This work will be completed with the winning entrant using email or the most suitable method available. We reserve the right to revoke a play's prize winning status if this work is not completed.

13. The BBC will reserve the right to make minor cuts, changes and edits to the winners' final draft scripts.

14. Subject to a satisfactory recording being made, the winning plays will be broadcast on BBC World Service in November 2009. No fee will be payable other than the £2500 sterling offered as prize money for one broadcast cycle. If repeated on the World Service, a fee of 50% of £2500 will be payable for the first repeat cycle and thereafter the BBC will be entitled to broadcasting and other rights on the terms of the applicable BBC Radio Drama contract which will be concluded with the winners.

15. The BBC may wish to seek from the runners-up certain additional rights in their plays for educational/development purposes which may include, but not be limited to, permission to record scenes of the play to be available online at www.bbc.co.uk and possibly for broadcast. Entrants agree that the right for the BBC to record and possibly broadcast/use scenes from their play online in this way will be available to the BBC in principle, subject to negotiation of appropriate terms for the exact use in question at the time.

16. The prize(s) must be taken as stated and cannot be deferred.

17. The BBC and the British Council reserve the right to withhold prizes, amend the rules or to cancel the competition in whole or in part if they consider it necessary, or if the standard of entries so justifies.

18. It is a condition of entry that entrants warrant that their work contains no defamatory matter (provided, however, that they shall not be liable for any defamatory matter which in the opinion of the BBC was included in the script without negligence or malice on their part), also that it does not contain any quotation from copyright material without appropriate permission having been obtained. Entries must not be obscene or in any way unsuitable for broadcast. Such entries will be immediately disqualified.

19. The BBC and British Council may consider arranging for the publication of a book containing some of the plays entered in the Competition. To make this possible, it is desirable that the winning writers retain their publishing copyright until 31 December 2009.

20. All plays must reach us in London by midnight GMT on Tuesday 31 March 2009. No exceptions will be made. The deadline for receiving entries for the competition is final. No entries received after the given date will be considered.

21. The names of the short listed entrants and the titles of their plays will be posted on the competition website in August 2009. Following the final judges' meeting, the winners' names and the titles of their plays will be posted on the website by end September 2009. You can access the competition website by visiting www.bbcworldservice.com/radioplay and selecting International Playwriting Competition 2009 from the options listed there.

22. The 2 overall winning plays will be recorded in October 2009 and the playwrights invited to attend the production and a prize-giving event in London. A small contribution to their expenses will be made.

23. Winners agree to take part in any post-competition publicity as required.

24. The BBC reserves the right to exclude any entry from the competition at any time and at its absolute discretion if the BBC has reason to believe that an entrant has breached these rules.

25. Entrants will be deemed to have accepted these rules and to agree to be bound by them when entering this competition.

26. These rules are governed by the law of England and Wales.

How to Enter
You can enter the competition by using one of the following methods:

1. Complete the entry form and questionnaire and send them, together with your play and synopsis, to:
Playwriting Competition 2008/09
BBC World Service Drama
Room 118 East Wing
Bush House
London WC2B 4PH
United Kingdom

2. Complete the entry form and questionnaire and deliver them, together with your play and synopsis, to your local British Council Office.

3. Email your play, entry form and synopsis directly to: radioplay@bbc.co.uk
If you are unable to download the entry form please use another format to provide us with all the information requested.

Unfortunately we will be unable to return any of your manuscripts.

Tips

Writing radio drama
Rules are there to be broken. The best writing is when people surprise us with something distinctive, individual and special. However there are a few key points to bear in mind:

Getting Started
Don't be afraid of the blank page - do a wild draft and see where it takes you. If your script takes a turn away from your original pitch, let it. Once you've got it down on paper you should be able to see if you need to focus in on something. You will instinctively know if you're trying to do too much. Tony Grounds (award winning TV, film and theatre writer) says that this is a window on your world. Your perspective, quirks and peculiarities will inhabit your piece. As Ashley Pharoah (writer of the hit BBC TV series which takes characters back to the 1970s, Life on Mars) says, be emotionally bold!

Openings
Don't put down the history, the set-up, why the characters are there - hit the ground running. It may be a fantastic bit of prose or a wonderful image, but if it's not relevant to the story and the characters, it shouldn't be there. Who are we meeting? Who do we identify with, where do we start the journey, how do we get into the piece? Cut the preamble and emotionally tie people down so they can't reach for that "off" switch. Simple often works. The opening can act as a trailer for the whole play. You can set up the idea of the piece and convey something of what's to come.

Character
No drama works without emotionally engaging characters. The audience must want to spend time with them. They don't have to like them, but they must want to know what happens to them. Radio has the fastest turn-off of all drama - in theatre you generally can't leave until the interval; in the cinema you've paid for your ticket - so you have to make the audience want to stay. Each character must earn his keep. Could someone else say those lines? If so kill them off! If you're thinking of an accent or a particular voice for a character, write it in - allow the distinctiveness of each personality to come through. Don't over-populate your play - bad scripts often have too many characters jostling for space. Think about who the audience can emotionally engage with. Be careful with peer groups - Kate Rowland (Creative Director of BBC New Writing) directed LAST BUS HOME by Gill Adams that featured a group of seven lasses from the Northern English town of Hull - a nightmare to tell apart!

Dialogue
Kroetz wrote about people who were inarticulate, who couldn't speak - it can be more authentic to write characters who don't finish sentences, forget what they're saying halfway through, who don't round everything up - it's how we all speak. Let the inarticulacy through. Make sure that your writing isn't prose masquerading as dialogue - read it aloud to make sure. Avoid being descriptive or prescriptive - don't tell the audience how to think and feel, and don't tell them what's happening. Don't over-explain - keep it lean and mean. Script should be sparse, as in screenplays - in fact describing radio as ‘the theatre of the airwaves' can be misleading as it's more similar to film. Paul Abbott (writer of the hit series Shameless and State of Play - currently being made into a Hollywood film) says "writing is re-writing" - boil it down to the minimum, the essential.

Inner voices
Radio can cover both the epic and the intimate. Think about the camera doing a close-up of someone's eyes - radio can voice that. The internal monologue can be a great device but can be over-used - writers sometimes ‘over colour-in', using it for exposition or to tell the audience how the character is feeling. Always think about what you're using it for - is it a convention to use throughout the piece? Is it a direct address to the audience? Is it the character thinking? If you're writing your play as a monologue you'll need a strong voice - for example Spoonface Steinberg (from Lee Hall's award-winning dramatic monologue about a girl suffering from cancer) had her own language.

Narration
Narrators are most often used with adaptations (of novels). Give them an attitude; don't let them be bland onlookers. They must have a reason to be there, a perspective on the story (as with House of Cards, the British TV series about a corrupt politician). Two examples from Scorsese show good and bad use: in the film Taxi Driver the narration is a direct line into the brain and heart of the character; in Casino, it's pure exposition.

Setting
You, as the writer, create the world - no matter how fantastical, it must still be real. Even if you're setting the drama on Mars, it must still be authentic. Don't be afraid of the surreal - you make the reality, so if it's real to you that will translate to the audience. It must however correspond with itself, even if it doesn't correspond with anything else in the known universe.

Structure
The listener's imagination is an important part of radio drama - allow them space to think and feel. Space on radio is very important - that's where the pictures are. Radio is a visual medium. As well as the close-up, radio can do a ‘long-shot' - something can happen ‘off' or aside. A character who never speaks or even appears in a drama can still be a very strong presence. Also think about how a TV play cuts between scenes. Simplicity can be your strongest tool. A single voice can work as well as a multi-layered piece filled with effects. Be careful of including too much back-story in your script - you have to do the thinking, but it doesn't necessarily have to reach the page. The artist Georges Braque says it isn't the objects but the space in between the objects that counts. With radio drama, it's the silence, the pauses, what happens between the words that's important - particularly in building suspense.

Soundscape
An enormous amount happens in a script apart from the words - it is the writer's job to include this in their script. For example in Spoonface Steinberg, writer Lee Hall knew that he wanted musical arias - music can play such a huge emotional role. Underscoring can get the audience into a scene really quickly, or can provide a counter point. It can undercut the action or deliver home a key moment. Also consider ambient sound, the weather, a dripping tap, etc.

Genre
If you're writing to a particular genre, be aware of their own specific rules. For example with horror, there is an expectation of being scared, so provide the tension. Horror is mostly in the mind of the audience (i.e. Jaws) so be aware of what the audience will bring to it.

Editorial Policy
As well as swearwords, audiences can be sensitive to religious oaths. Religious phrases can be more offensive than direct expletives. Language is more potent on the radio - less is definitely more. It's best to avoid in the first page - let the audience get settled in. Also be aware of suicide (showing people how to do it), sex and violence. If anything is gratuitous, it won't work, but if something is contentious and used in context it's easier to argue the case for it. Write what you want to in the first draft - if there's anything problematic it can be dealt with then.

Formatting
Have a look at our example of a script (link on the front page) or browse through some existing radio scripts. Don't worry about a studio-ready script (speech-numbering etc) at this stage. You can roughly estimate 45 seconds per page (in the standard format) but, of course, the pace and style of your piece will affect that - a page of reflective monologue will translate to a longer piece than a page of snappy banter. Don't use small font to disguise an over-long script - it's will make your script seem difficult to read.

Script Format
Setting out a script in a good format makes it easier for an actor - and anyone else - to read. However, what matters most is that what you do is laid out clearly and is easy to read.

• Each new scene should go on a new page.
• Dialogue should not be split across pages.
• Make sure the script has page numbers (top and bottom) with page one beginning with Scene 1 (not the title page).
• It's useful to have the play title and author at the top of each page.
• If sending by post, please make sure the pages are attached together.

Useful Abbreviations:
SFX - Sound Effects
INT - Interior
EXT - Exterior
b/g - Background

Script Example

SCENE 1: INT. THE OFFICE. MORNING
(write a new scene for each new location and/or different time. As above)

TECHNICAL DIRECTION SHOULD BE USED SPARINGLY AND WORK WITH THE DIALOGUE. IT CAN BE TYPED LIKE THIS.

EXAMPLE: CHARACTER RUNS IN

SFX: put any sound effects for your play like this. Example: Cogs whirring.

CHARACTER: Character names appear in capitals with a colon on the left. The name must stay the same throughout the script.

ANOTHER: The dialogue goes here. It should be indented, to make it clear who is speaking. Use a large enough font - size 13 is good - and space the lines at 1.5.

SFX: put any more Sound Effects like this. Example: cogs whirring louder

CHARACTER: (BEAT) Actor instructions appear in capitals enclosed within round brackets in the dialogue. (PAUSE) It is recommended that these are used sparingly!

ANOTHER: (OFF) Indicates that the actor should speak away from the microphone. The audio equivalent of "off-screen".

CHARACTER: (V.O.) Voiceover indicates a character who is narrating over sound, music or dialogue.

MUSIC IS GENERALLY ONLY INDICATED WHEN IT IS A CUE FOR THE ACTORS OR IS A DEVICE BETWEEN SCENES.

FADE

Synopsis and writer info

Gordon Pengilly (Canada)
Winner English as a First Language
"Seeing in the Dark"
Synopsis: Released from prison after serving 18 months for armed robbery, Clayton is optimistic about his chances on the outside, but even before he reaches his home town, he is drawn into a dangerous situation and in the end literature seems to be his only redemption.

What the writer says: "I've written quite a bit of radio drama, and I'm a trained stage playwright, so I focus on writing for the theatre. I've also written some television, and most recently have been trying to break into the film industry...It's a tough nut to crack. It doesn't seem to matter how good your scripts are, the windows of opportunity and the doors that open to you are few and far between, I'm learning. Actually, I find writing radio plays and screenplays quite similar...The radio play is kind of the movie in your ear".

Bolaji Odofin (Nigeria)

Winner English as a Second Language
"Nature Calls"
Synopsis: A comic Romeo and Juliet story set in modern day Nigeria. Ngozi, a young Catholic girl, falls for Ibrahim, the son of an imam, and who is preparing to become an imam himself. They keep their love secret for as long as they can, but their families find out, and disapprove violently.

What the writer says: "Nature Calls is my third stab at the prize. When I write, which isn't as often as I'd like, I try and wait for this magical connection with my characters. Sometimes it doesn't happen. But when it does I find they take up their own lives and live it while I merely chronicle events. With Nature Calls the connection was immediate and powerful. Its characters and I knew and understood each other utterly. Start to finish took four days. I had so much fun writing it it was almost sinful.That the play won is a tremendous bonus. I thank God for it."

Regional Prizewinners

• South Asia - Dean Barrett for "Bones of the Chinamen" (Thailand - English as first language)
• Asia Pacific - Stephanie McCarthy for "Killing Oleander" (Australia - English as first language)
• Russia and the Caucasus - Lasha Bughadze for "When Cabbies Are Attacked" (Georgia - English as a second language)
• Europe - Vincent Vella for "The Pardon Beggars" (Malta - English as a second language)