Hello there, I am Norma Burke, the Executive Producer of the Big 5 award so just to clarify a couple of points of confusion.
The Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund who is one of the funders has a particular remit to help new writers who are under represented or disadvantaged to get into the film and TV industries. Disadvantaged will be to do with your own personal circumstances such as long term sickness or financial disadvantage- you can call the CTBF to discuss your own circumstances if you are not sure if you qualify. Likewise with under represented - call them to discuss if you are unsure about your own situation. If you are from an ethnic minority or are disabled or a woman you will automatically qualify as these groups all have clear unrepresentation in the film industries, for example of all the films produced in the UK only 8% are written by women...
You can, however also qualify as transitional talent - this is not for completely new writers - but for writers with a track record who have cut their teeth elsewhere but not yet had the opportunity to work in film to give them that chance for their first film credit and to bring new talent into the British film industry. You could have written for radio, be a stand up or written for TV, theatre etc. In terms of TV if you have a sole credit you will not qualify but if you have been a contributing writer to panel shows, sketch shows, sitcoms or any other comedy form of writing and have a shared credit we would still consider you in need of further opportunity. Having sent stuff to shows if it had not been accepted would NOT qualify you - you would need actual credits/a track record to apply under this criteria. Again contact the CTBF if you are unsure.
You can join my Facebook group for further updates and hopefully we will feature some writing tips from the judges too:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/London-United-Kingdom/n2o-Entertainment/288108061848?ref=mf
Due to the number of entries we will not be able to give individual feedback unless your film is shortlisted.
I hope that is of help. Good luck everybody - we're very excited about reading all the entries, Norma