Anita Sullivan has been announced as the winner of the 2023 Tinniswood Award, which is organised by WGGB and The Society of Authors to recognise the best audio drama script of the year.
Sullivan (pictured above) received the accolade for End of Transmission, a 57’ drama broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (produced by Karen Rose and executive-produced by Rosalynd Ward for Sweet Talk Productions).
The audio drama centres on Jude’s 50th birthday. She has lived with HIV for over 20 years and has unresolved questions. Only the virus knows the answers. The virus takes her on a transmission journey, skipping across continents, centuries, decades and diverse hosts to meet the person who gave her HIV.
Judges Vickie Donoghue, Nicholas McInerny and Natalie Mitchell said: “This script was the definitive story about this subject for radio. The writer cleverly uses the form to be adventurous in their storytelling, taking us across eras, continents and bodies as they weave personal, informative, and true stories together to give multiple perspectives. A beautiful and moving script that is also brave and bold in its uniqueness.”
Anita Sullivan received the prize of £3,000, generously sponsored by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society, at the BBC Audio Drama Awards on 19 March 2023, presented to her by former WGGB President and multi-award-winning playwright David Edgar, who was the recipient of this year’s Writers’ Guild Outstanding Contribution Award and whose three-part play Maydays was broadcast on Radio 4 at the end of last month.
Sullivan is an award-winning audio dramatist whose first play Full Blown was shortlisted for an Imison Award and became a successful stage play. She has since had over 60 scripts broadcast or staged; her adaptation of An Angel at My Table won Best Series at the BBC Audio Drama Awards in 2013. She is also a digital storyteller, creating interactive narratives for VR and gamified worlds.
2023 is the centenary year for audio/radio drama at the BBC. This unique genre began in February 1923 and, for 100 years, audio drama and comedy have provided enjoyment, diversion, illumination, insight and escape for listeners, evolving in approach and style as audio practitioners have responded to new ideas with ingenuity, imagination and inspiration. This year’s Audio Drama Awards celebrated this centenary and were dedicated to the creativity of writers, actors, directors, producers, musicians, sound designers and all who work in this vibrant art-form.
The other shortlisted plays for the Tinniswood Award were A Close Approximation of You by Oliver Emanuel, Waterloo Station by Katie Hims and Strings by Linda Marshall Griffiths (further information here).
ABOUT THE TINNISWOOD AWARD
The Tinniswood Award was established by 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 the late Sonya Hale, 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 its generous sponsorship, including the £3,000 prize.
The 2023 award is for a drama broadcast or made available online in the UK between 1 October 2021 and 31 October 2022.
Photo of Anita Sullivan: BBC/TriciaYourkevich
