Sarah Woods (pictured above) has won the Tinniswood Award 2018 for her audio drama script, Borderland.
Described by the judges as “a dark and original dystopia that took an inspired perspective on issues of migration and identity”, the audio drama was directed by James Robinson for BBC Cymru Wales and broadcast on Radio 4.
Set in the near future, the play reverses the current situation and sees refugees desperate to escape the UK. In their attempt to cross the border and navigate a passage over the Irish Sea, Layla and her daughter are pursued by the chilling forces of state security. The judges added that “this was an absorbing thriller, with Orwellian echoes” that had them “gripped”.
Sarah Woods writes across all media and her work has been produced by many companies, including the RSC and Hampstead Theatre. For BBC Radio she has written numerous plays, series, drama-documentaries and dramatised many classics, including Das Kapital by Karl Marx, and is adapting her stage version of Marie Ndiaye’s French drama Hilda, both to be broadcast this year. Her opera WAKE (Birmingham Opera Company) and her stage play Primary (London Bubble) will both premiere this March.
She was presented the award by author Philip Pullman at the annual BBC Audio Drama Awards, hosted by actor Tracy-Ann Oberman, on 28 January 2018.
Other shortlisted writers for the Tinniswood Award were John Finnemore (for John Finnemore’s Double Acts – Penguin Diplomacy, which was highly commended by the judges) and David Eldridge for Jenny Lomas (more information on the shortlisted works).
Read the full list of BBC Audio Drama Award winners 2018.
About the Tinniswood Award
The Tinniswood Award is run by the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and Society of Authors, with the prize of £3,000 donated by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS). It was set up in memory of scriptwriter Peter Tinniswood
The judges this year were Hardeep Singh Kohli, Colin Teevan and Jane Thynne.
Previous winners include Morwenna Banks, Murray Gold, Christopher William Hill, Julian Simpson and James Fritz.
Listen to a clip of Borderland and the other shortlisted works.
Photo: BBC
