The Tony Doyle Bursary for New Writing opens its doors once more to a new generation of writers.

The Tony Doyle Bursary for New Writing provides a fantastic opportunity for writers new to television. Previous winners of the prestigious £2,000 television writer’s award are Bill Murphy, Brian Dungan, Dominque Maloney, Danny Stack, Abbie Spallen and Martin McSweeney and Martin McNamara.

The aim of the Tony Doyle New Writers’ Bursary is to encourage Irish writing for television - the medium in which Tony excelled - and to forge creative links between broadcasters and writers in Ireland.

The judging panel for entries will include John Yorke, Kate Rowland, Liam Cunnigham, Lorcan Cranitch, Peter Norris, Sally Doyle, Emma Norton from Element Pictures, Sarah Stack and Tina Kellegher.

The bursary’s core aim is to assist the development of new writers. To achieve this, the chosen finalists will take part in a residential seminar where they will undergo intensive, structured, script sessions with members of BBC Northern Ireland Drama’s development team and with top script writers and producers.

The aim of the bursary
The aim of the bursary is to encourage television drama about Ireland by writers new to the medium. This may include writers experienced in other forms of fiction as well as new writers.

Prize
The winner will receive a cash prize of £2,000. The winner along the finalists will be invited to a residential seminar run by the BBC Northern Ireland Drama Department. The aim of the seminar is to introduce the writers to the world of television drama through a series of intensive sessions with the BBC Northern Ireland development team and experienced practitioners - producers, directors, actors and fellow writers. We intend to announce the winner and runners-up in January 2010.

Rules of entry

1. The competition is open only to entrants aged over 18 as at the at the closing date and either resident in Northern Ireland and Eire for 5 years, or born in either country or with at least one parent or grandparent who was born in either country. Entrants must not be employees of the BBC or anyone connected with the competition or their close relatives and must declare if close personal relation of a BBC employee

2. No entrant may submit more than one script

3. The submission should be either a 60 or 90 minute script for an original television, theatre, film or radio drama. This can be a single drama or the first episode of a 2 parter, serial or series. For series etc, you must attach a synopsis (max 2 pages) outlining the remainder of the story.

4. It is a condition of entry that entrants warrant that their work contains no defamatory matter; also that it does not breach any third party rights or contain any quotation from copyright material without appropriate permission having been obtained. It must also be suitable for broadcast on a BBC public service channel

5. The script must be the entrants’ original, unpublished work. Professional and previously published writers are eligible to enter. The script must not have been professionally produced in any medium (an informal script-reading is acceptable; a script-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).

6. 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.

7. The script must be written entirely in English.

8. The BBC regrets it is unable to acknowledge receipt of scripts or return entries so remember to keep a copy.

9. The script 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 scripts will be deemed to have entered into an undertaking not to accept offers for their entries from other broadcasters or publishers before 31st May 2010.

10. As with any new script, the BBC may require further drafts and revisions of the winning scripts. Winners must be willing and able to undertake redrafting and revision work in conjunction with the BBC.

11. The BBC will reserve the right to make minor cuts, changes and edits to the winners' final draft scripts and ensure that it complies with BBC guidelines if it is to be broadcast or published by the BBC.

12. Entrants will retain copyright in their entries but agree to allow the BBC to publish or broadcast the script on TV, Radio, Online or in any media it thinks fit on its usual contractual terms

13. The prize(s) must be taken as stated and cannot be deferred or transferred.

14. The BBC reserves the right to withhold prizes, alter the closing date, 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.

15. All entries must arrive no later than 5pm on 4th December 2009 The deadline for receiving entries for the competition is final. No entries received after the given date will be considered. The BBC can accept no responsibility for any postal delays. Proof of posting is not proof of receipt.

16. 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.

17. A shortlist of 20 submissions will be judged by a panel of former associates of Tony’s, including, John Yorke, Kate Rowland, Peter Norris, Liam Cunnigham, Emma Norton from Element Pictures, Tina Kellegher, Lorcan Cranitch, together with Tony’s widow, Sally Doyle.

18. The judges will select a short list of up to 7 writers and the winner will be announced in January 2010.

19. The winner will receive a cash prize of £2,000. The winner along with finalists will be invited to a 3 day residential seminar run by the BBC Northern Ireland Drama Department. The aim of the seminar is to introduce the writers to the world of television drama through a series of intensive sessions with the BBC Northern Ireland development team and experienced practitioners - producers, directors, actors and fellow writers. Accommodation, travel and meals will be provided but no other expenses will be paid. All dates and venues supplied for the residential are subject to change.

20. The names of the short listed entrants and the titles of their scripts will be posted on the competition website in January 2010.Following the final judges’ meeting, the winners’ names and the titles of their scripts will be posted on the website by end January 2010. You can access the competition website by visiting www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/drama/writing_opps/tony_doyle.

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

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

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

24. The BBC will only ever use personal details for the purposes of review, and will not publish them or provide them to anyone without permission. You can read more about the BBC Privacy Policy at www.bbc.co.uk/privacy/.

25. The BBC Code of Conduct for competitions can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/competitioncode.

26. If the submitted script has been through a development process with a production company, agent, training scheme etc then this must be declared on the submission.

27. The writer must not have had either an original drama in the English language previously produced for television or a feature film produced (this does not include short films subsequently broadcast on television).

28. No previous finalists will be considered.

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

The Bursary was established eight years ago in memory of Tony Doyle. Tony was one of Ireland’s foremost television actors who starred in many BBC, ITV and RTE dramas including ‘Ballykissangel’, ‘Amongst Women’ and ‘Between The Lines’. A shortlist of submissions will be judged by a panel of former associates of Tony’s, including, John Yorke, Kate Rowland, Peter Norris, Liam Cunnigham, Tina Kellegher, Lorcan Cranitch, together with Tony’s widow, Sally Doyle. In choosing a winner, the panel will be considering the originality of the television idea and the writer’s ability.

All submissions should be received by 4th December 2009.

Submissions to:
The Tony Doyle Bursary for New Writing 2010
BBC Writer’s Room
1st Floor
Grafton House
379-381 Euston Road
London
NW1 3AU