Seven shortlisted writers announced ahead of the BBC Audio Drama Awards winners ceremony on 1 March
From three friends on a quest for good sex to a heartbreaking exploration of the IPP prison scandal, the shortlists for this year’s Imison and Tinniswood awards celebrate some of the very best new audio drama.
This year’s Imison Award shortlistees are Do Not Disturb: ‘Good Sex in Progress’ by Sherise Blackman, A Tale of Two Trumpets by Sylvia-Anne Parker and When Maggie Met Larry by Tim Walker. The award recognises the best original script by a writer new to radio and the winner will receive £3,000. It was judged by members of the Society of Authors’ Scriptwriters Group: Connor Allen, Imogen Church, James Clarke, Juliet Gilkes-Romero, Sean Grundy, Robin Mukherjee and Rhiannon Tise.
James Fritz, Waleed Akhtar, Oliver Emanuel and Sarah Wooley are the shortlisted writers for this year’s Tinniswood Award, which recognises the best audio drama script of the year. The winner will receive £3,000 in prize money. The Tinniswood Award judges this year were Nell Leyshon, Christopher William Hill and Linda Marshall-Griffiths.
The Imison and Tinniswood Awards are presented each year as part of the BBC Audio Drama Awards. The 2026 awards are for a drama broadcast or made available online in the UK between 1 October 2024 and 31 October 2025.
Both awards will be presented as part of the BBC Audio Drama Awards on Sunday 1 March in the Radio Theatre. See the full list of BBC Audio Drama Awards finalists here.
