This year it went to the late Sonya Hayle for Blis-ta, and was announced at the BBC Audio Drama Awards on 25 March 2022.
Blis-ta by Sonya Hale
Produced by Mimi Findlay – Clean Break, Spotify (56 minutes 37 seconds) | Listen now
The Tinniswood Award 2022 judges were Nell Leyshon, Oliver Emanuel and Christopher William Hill.
The judges said:
The standards this year were impressively high and the competition fierce. But the winning entry stood out. Blis-ta challenges traditional structure and champions originality. It weaves literary dramatic form with an authentic street culture, presenting a tone and style that feels completely fresh and subversive. A brilliant and deserving winner!
SYNOPSIS
Kat and Cherry meet on the streets. Kat is wily, funny, and fierce; Cherry is a lost dreamer. Blis-ta is the story of their adventures to survive as homeless girls and the transformative power of friendship.
ABOUT SONYA HALE
Sonya Hale was a playwright. Sonya first came to Clean Break as a member of its theatre education programme and wrote her first short play for Clean Break in 2013, Hours ‘Til Midnight. She has also worked extensively with Synergy Theatre Project and The Outside Edge Theatre Company, where she ran writers’ workshops. She has had plays performed at The Southbank Centre, Latitude Festival, E15 University and in prisons and treatment centres.
A rehearsed reading of her first play Glory Whispers was performed at Theatre 503 after winning Synergy Theatre Project’s national prison scriptwriting competition. Her play Dean McBride won the Heretic Voices competition in January 2018 and was performed at The Arcola Theatre. Her most recent play, a collaborative venture with The Big House Theatre Company, called Bullet Tongue, received 5-star reviews in Time Out and The Stage. Sonya died in November 2020 after living with cancer for many years.
ABOUT THE TINNISWOOD AWARD
The award was established by the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and Society of Authors to perpetuate the memory of Peter Tinniswood (pictured left) as well as to celebrate and encourage high standards in radio drama. Previous winners include Christopher Douglas, Ian Martin, Sarah Woods, Oliver Emanuel, Morwenna Banks, Mike Bartlett, and Colin Teevan. Find out more.
We are very grateful to the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) for their generous sponsorship, including the £3,000 prize.
This year’s award is for a drama broadcast or made available online in the United Kingdom between 1 October 2020 and 31 October 2021.
Photo of Sonya Hale: Clean Break
