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Monday, January 31, 2011

BBC World Service International Playwriting competition

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These are the rules and terms and conditions for entering the click BBC World Service International Playwriting competition. Please ensure that you read and understand them as failure to follow will result in your entry not being considered.

1. Entry is only open to anyone who is over the age of 16 as at 31 March 2011 who is not normally a resident of the UK. This may include anyone living/working in the UK on a temporary basis (up to 12 months) at the time of entering the competition. Professional and previously published writers are eligible to enter, but this is not a requirement of entry.

2. Entrants must not be BBC or British Council employees and their close relatives or any person connected to the competition. Proof of age, identity and eligibility may be requested.

3. Entrants should write a radio play of approximately 60 minutes in length on any subject of their choice. Adaptations of novels are not eligible.

4. Plays entered must not have been professionally produced in any medium (an informal play-reading is acceptable; a play-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).

5. Plays entered in the competition must not, at the time they are submitted, have been offered for publication, performance or broadcast in any other form or medium to any other person or company. Nor can they, at the time of entry or during the course of the competition, have been entered for any other competition. The winning playwrights will be deemed to have entered into an undertaking not to accept offers for their entries from other broadcasters or publishers before December 2011.

6. All scripts submitted must be a minimum of 50 pages of A4 paper (or equivalent) and a maximum of 75 pages (note, a rough guide is a minute per page; please read and time your play before you send it). The play should have a maximum of six central characters (there may be up to three small "doubling" characters too, who don’t have more than a few lines each). Your play must be accompanied by a short synopsis which outlines the complete story of the play. This must be no more than 400 words.

7. There are two categories for entry. One is for entrants who speak English as a first language and the other is for entrants with English as a second language.

The BBC may require proof of eligibility for the selected category before announcing a winner.

8. The play must be written substantially or entirely in English. Unfortunately, we do not have the facility to offer a translation service. Entries that have been translated must acknowledge this fact by giving a credit to the translator or translators. Entries that have been translated will be entered in the English as a first language category.

9. The competition opens on 16 October 2010 and closes on 31 March 2011.

Entries must be received in London by midnight GMT on 31 March 2011. Entries received after this time will not be considered.

10. Entries must be submitted either:

* by post to the following address: Rm 823B, South East Wing, BBC Bush House, Strand, London WC2B 4PH

OR

* by email to the following email address: radioplay@bbc.co.uk

11. All entries must be accompanied by a completed copy of the entry form attached to this leaflet or which can be downloaded at: www.bbcworldservice.com/radioplay.

12. Entrants can enter individually or as part of a group. If entering as a group, all entrants must meet the entry requirements and be eligible for the same category. No member should have also entered individually. Please note, the prize only includes payment for one airfare per category.

13. In the case of an entry by two or more writers, the BBC 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. The nominee will be selected by the writers and it will be his or her responsibility to distribute these funds to the other writers and the organisers can take no responsibility for that aspect.

14. Only one entry per person is permitted including any group entries. If you submit more than one entry, only the first entry received will be considered. Please do not submit plays you have entered before.

15. All entries must be the original work of the entrant and must not infringe the rights of any other party. The BBC accepts no liability if entrants ignore these rules and entrants agree to fully indemnify the BBC against any claims by any third party arising from any breach of these rules.

16. Entries must not contain defamatory, obscene, offensive or any other unsuitable material. Entries must be suitable to be broadcast by the BBC to audiences of all ages.

17. Entrants retain the copyright in their entries but grant to the BBC a non-exclusive licence to broadcast their entry across all media, as well as use it on any online platforms.

18. The prize for the winning entry in each category will consist of £2,500 sterling and a trip to London (airfare and accommodation for one person) to see the winning play being recorded for broadcast on the BBC World Service and attend a prizegiving event. Where the winner is under 18, the prize will also include airfare and accommodation for an accompanying adult. The prize is as stated and cannot be deferred or transferred. There will be no cash alternatives.

19. As with any new play, the BBC may require further drafts and revisions of the winning plays. Winners must be willing and able to undertake redrafting and revision work in conjunction with the BBC. This work is likely to take place between August and September 2011 and the winning entrants will need to keep time free, and remain contactable, to achieve this. This work will be completed with the winning entrant using email or the most suitable method available. We reserve the right to revoke a play’s prize winning status if this work is not completed.

20. The BBC will reserve the right to make minor cuts, changes and edits to the winners' final draft scripts.

21. Subject to a satisfactory recording being made, the winning plays will be broadcast on BBC World Service in November 2011. Winners will first be required to enter into a contract with the BBC on the standard terms and conditions applicable for broadcast of BBC Radio Drama. No fee will be payable other than the £2500 sterling offered as prize money for one broadcast cycle and the BBC's standard package of rights under that contract. If repeated on the World Service, a sum of £1250 will be payable for the first repeat cycle and thereafter the BBC will have certain broadcasting and other rights all in accordance with the contract.
Terms and Conditions

These Terms and Conditions supplement the competition Rules above and are deemed to be integral to these.

1. The BBC's code of conduct for competitions applies to this competition. You can read more about it here: click BBC Competitions Policy.

2. Entries received before the opening date or after the closing date will not be considered.

3. Entries will not be returned so please remember to keep a copy. Unsuccessful entrants will not be contacted and no feedback on any entry will be provided.

4. The BBC will only ever use personal details for the purposes of administering this competition. Please see the click BBC's Privacy Policy.

5. By entering the competition, entrants warrant that they have legal capacity to enter the competition and agree to be bound by the competition Rules and these Terms and Conditions.

6. Entries will be judged on the following criteria:

Plays will be selected for their originality and imagination, use of good dialogue, a compelling story with a believable plot, characters and structure, use of the medium of radio and how practical the play would be for the BBC to produce.

7. Entries will be judged through the following process:

Scripts will be read by a team of readers and a long shortlist drawn up. This will then be cut to a maximum of 16 scripts (8 first language and 8 second language) and these scripts sent to a panel of judges, who meet for a day to discuss the shortlist and decide upon the winners, using their judgement of the criteria above.

8. The names of the short listed entrants and the titles of their plays will be posted on the competition website in August 2011. Following the final judges' meeting, the winners' names and the titles of their plays will be posted on the website by end September 2011. You can access the competition website by visiting click www.bbcworldservice.com/competitions or click www.bbcworldservice.com/radioplay and selecting International Playwriting Competition 2011 from the options listed there.

9. The winner will be contacted by a member of the BBC production team during July 2011. If the winner cannot be contacted after reasonable attempts have been made to do so, the BBC reserves the right to offer the prize to the next best entry.

10. It is planned that the two overall winning plays will be recorded in October 2011 and the playwrights invited to attend the production and a prize-giving event in London.

11. The BBC may wish to seek from the runners-up certain additional rights in their plays for educational/development purposes which may include, but not be limited to, permission to record scenes of the play to be available online at bbc.co.uk and possibly for broadcast. Entrants agree that the right for the BBC to record and possibly broadcast/use scenes from their play online in this way will be available to the BBC in principle, subject to negotiation of appropriate terms for the exact use in question at the time

12. The BBC and British Council may consider arranging for the publication of a book containing some of the plays entered in the Competition. To make this possible, writers should retain their publishing copyright until 31 December 2011.

13. The names of each entrant whose entry is broadcast or used on-line will be made public. Entrants must agree to take part in any post-competition publicity if required.

14. The BBC's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Unsuccessful entrants will not be contacted.

15. The BBC and the British Council reserve the right to disqualify any entry which breaches any of these Terms and Conditions or to withhold or withdraw a prize if they consider it necessary or if, in their opinion, entries do not reach the required standard.

16. The BBC reserves the right to amend these terms and conditions or cancel this competition at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, and if circumstances arise outside its control. In this event, a notice will be posted on the click www.bbcworldservice.com/radioplay website.

17. The BBC, its sub-contractors, subsidiaries and/or agencies cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever for any technical failure or malfunction or any other problem with any server, Internet access, system, the post or otherwise which may result in any entry being lost or not properly registered or recorded. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.

18. These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

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