This award, now in its fifteenth year, perpetuates the memory of Richard Imison to acknowledge the encouragement he gave to writers working in the medium of radio, and in memory of the support and friendship he invariably offered writers in general, and radio writers in particular.

The Imison is administered and judged by the Society of Authors and we are grateful to the Peggy Ramsay Foundation for generously funding the £1,500 prize money.

Purpose

To encourage new talent and high standards in writing for radio by selecting the radio drama by a writer new to radio which, in the opinion of the judges, is the best of those submitted.

The Award

The Award consists of a cheque for £1,500.

Eligibility

Any radio drama first transmitted within the United Kingdom during the period 1 January - 31 December 2008 by a writer or writers new to radio. The work must be an original piece for radio, and it must be the first dramatic work by the writer or writers that has been broadcast. It may also include the first episode from an original series or serial.

An adaptation for radio of a piece originally written for any other medium e.g. stage, television, film, novel, poem or a short story will not be eligible.  

 
Submissions

Submissions will be accepted from any party (production, broadcasting organisation, producer or independent production company, editor, writer, writer's agent, etc.), but must be received by 9 February 2009.

Submissions for the award must consist of a completed nomination form as well as three copies of the writer's original script and recording of the broadcast. Further copies will be requested if the work is short-listed.

Please email a supporting statement, synopsis and author biography to jmccrum@societyofauthors.org (each no more than 250 words). 

Entries will not be returned and should be sent to Jo McCrum, The Society of Authors, 84 Drayton Gardens, London, SW10 9SB.

• Download the Award Guidelines

Judges

Presentation

The award will be presented in autumn 2009.

The Winner of the 2008 Prize was: 

“A lovely, entertaining, amusing, and taut play with a mystery at its heart and wonderfully light characterisation. It travels skilfully in time, making excellent use of radio in its storytelling and plays, as stage magic often does, with notions of what is real and what we choose to believe.”

For further information about the Imison Award please contact Jo McCrum at jmccrum@societyofauthors.org or on tel: 020 7373 6642.