Entry Requirements

Who can enter?

Any individual or comedy writing partnership aged 18 or over at the time of submission and currently resident in the UK who meets this eligibility criteria:

Entrants must have at least one credited broadcast comedy writing credit (see full terms and conditions, below). As a small organisation with very limited resources, the Trust has so far only been able to offer a single annual competition with this specific entry requirement. We have no permanent staff and all the judges are volunteers. This means capacity is extremely limited. That said, it is our hope that someday, if new resources become available, we will be in a position to launch another competition, for example for totally new writers with no previous credits.

Entrants must not be working in broadcast as a full-time comedy writer, or as a full-time freelance broadcast comedy writer at the time of submission. Entrants cannot be past winners of finalists.

When to enter

The opening date for entries is 16th February 2024.

The closing date for submissions is 23:59 on Friday 15th March 2024.

Finalists will be announced in July 2024.

What to Enter

The first 10 pages of a half-hour radio or television sit-com pilot script OR four three-minute comedy sketches.

Your submitted SCRIPT(S) must be anonymous. Please make sure the project title is clear but not your name. Only anonymised scripts will be numbered and forwarded to the judging team. Only at the end of the process will names be re-associated with the winning submissions by the administrator. Judging will be 'blind'.

PLUS

1. A 500-word ‘statement of intent’ describing your submission, your writing and broadcast history to date, and your goals for your writing career. This must also be anonymous - but identifiable by the project name.

2. Proof of previously broadcast work which must have been broadcast between January 2019 and 2024 and should be in the form of a URL linking to active or archived material. (Self-published work on any platform does not apply).

3. A statement declaring that all the work submitted is original and is the copyrighted work of the person/s named as entrants to the competition.

How to Enter

Please submit all of the required materials listed on our online form here.

Make sure the layout of the content is clear and easily followed.

Unfortunately, we cannot accept 'hard copy' entries.

Entries must be submitted by the writer/s of the material. Agent submissions will not be accepted. Strictly one submission per entrant can be entered.

Judges

A panel of established comedy professionals will be appointed by The Trust Board to judge the competition. Their names will be confirmed via The Trust website and social media platforms before judging begins in March 2024.

Terms and Conditions

Finalists will be announced on The Trust website in June 2024

Winners will be announced via Twitter and the Trust website on July 2024

First Prize: £1000.

Runners-up: £250 per entry.

Prize money will be payable by The Trust within two months of the announcement.

Entries must be by email only and strictly as described in the ‘how to enter’ section of the competition outline. Each entrant will receive an email confirmation of receipt. We regret that we cannot engage in further email communication with entrants.

The Competition is open to any individual or comedy writing partnership aged 18 or over at the time of submission and currently resident in the UK who meet the criteria as outlined. Entrants must not be working in broadcast as a full-time comedy writer, or full-time as a freelance broadcast comedy writer.

Self-published broadcasts do not qualify as evidence. All material submitted as evidence must have been aired on a registered, recognised commercial, public, local, community or student broadcast network. Material submitted as evidence of prior work must have already been broadcast at the time of submission to the competition.

A ‘broadcast credit’ for the purposes of entry criteria can be for a one-line or one-time joke, but it must have been credited to the entrant(s) on-air or online, with written proof of that credit/payment, if the credit is no longer visible online.

Entrants can also be credited as a regular contributor to a programme or a writer/co-writer to a one-off comedy broadcast.

Members of The Trust’s board and members of their immediate family are excluded from entry to the competition.

Judges will endeavour to select one overall winner and either one or two runners-up.

Judges reserve the right to limit, reduce or increase the number of winners as they see fit.

Judges’ decisions are final and indisputable. No correspondence will be entered into.

The Trust reserves the right to change or review the mechanics of the competition at any time.

The Trust accepts no responsibility or liability for material submitted where the author’s ownership of that material is subsequently challenged or disputed.

For answers to frequently asked questions regarding the competition see the FAQ’s section of the website.