BCG Pro Talent Awards: Writing

The BCG Pro Talent Award for Writing runs from May to July each year.

What are we looking for?

2 sketches, or 1 sketch and 10 standalone, original one-liners.

We're not setting topics this year: the subject matter can be anything, so let your comic imagination run wild!

This said: don't be weird or bizarre just for the sake of it. A really funny sketch set in a pub, café or office is much more likely to impress us than a self-consciously odd piece set on Mars. As a general rule, sketches rooted in a set-up the audience can immediately understand work better.

What can I win?

As well as shaking up the entry brief, we're shaking up the prizes. 2024's Starter winner will receive a £150 cash prize, whilst our main Pro winner will pocket a handsome £350, in order to help develop their career further - whether it's buying some time to write, funding a course, or orchestrating a recorded table-read.

Our judges may also look out for entries worthy of feedback or sharing with other industry partners.

The 2024 judges

Claire Wetton: Claire is a comedy writer who has written for all audience age groups, from Mr Tumble to Pam Ayres, covering radio, stand-up, sketch, animation, live action TV, and lots and lots of very silly songs. She specialises in children's TV, having written multiple shows for CBeebies, CBBC, Milkshake, Sky Kids, and Aardman. She is a lead writer and script editor for the BAFTA winning Horrible Histories, and co-wrote last year's CBBC Prom, 'Orrible Opera at the Royal Albert Hall.

Michael Spicer: Michael is a writer, comedian and actor who rose to fame with a series of viral sketches entitled The Room Next Door. Away from his online sketches, he's been a regular performer on TV shows including The Mash Report and Mandy. He wrote and starred in the award-winning Radio 4 sitcom Before Next Door, and has recently created the ten-part Radio 4 sketch series Michael Spicer: No Room.

Jessica Ransom: Jess is a writer and BAFTA-winning actor best known for appearing in Horrible Histories and Doc Martin. She is also a lead writer on Horrible Histories and has written for a wide variety of TV and radio shows including the award-winning The Amazing World Of Gumball (Cartoon Network), Dodo (Sky) and The Armstrong & Miller Show (BBC).

How do I enter?

We are not setting a precise word limit for submissions, but a sketch that runs for more than two A4 pages in a reasonable layout is likely to be too long.

Indeed, length will not impress us (tee hee). A very funny short sketch - three jokes, a great punchline, then out - or even an inventive and funny one-laugh quickie, are much more likely to tickle our pickle than an entry that, no matter how clever it is, goes on and on. And on. And on. ... And on.

We're not too bothered by tone either, and it can be written for any medium. A sketch that could be in a Radio 4 series will be judged in exactly the same way as one that would fit late night Channel 4. Just make it funny! We have a low tolerance for material that isn't funny from the off. We need to see a joke in the first one or two lines.

Remember: good sketches - and good jokes - tend to have a single key comic idea at their heart.

Confusion is the enemy of comedy. We need to be able to latch onto the comic idea - and thereby the jokes - at once.

There are lots of resources on BCG Pro to help you, and we look forward to reading your work. You might find our formatting and sketch-writing tutorials a helpful starting point.

Good luck!

Note

Each BCG Pro subscriber may submit one entry to the contest, either by themselves as an individual or on behalf of a writing partnership/team. An entry should consist of two sketches, or one sketch and 10 one-liner jokes. When you have finished writing, please put the two parts of your entry into a single Word or PDF file (i.e. one sketch, followed by another sketch or the jokes) and upload that document through the form below.

Please do not include your name or any other details on the document you upload. We will be judging entries blind to ensure the fairest process possible. Our ystem will track entrants so we can identify winners at the end of the process.

Full terms and conditions can be read at the bottom of this page.

Any questions? Do ask us.

Rules

Each BCG Pro subscriber can submit one entry into the competition for consideration. You may use your entry to submit on behalf of a team/collective.

All entries must be the original work of the entrant, and must not infringe the rights of any other party.

Submissions deviating from the stipulated criteria will be considered null and void.

Entries including identifying details such as but not limited to name, email address or phone number within the script file may be disqualified.

Scripts may be submitted as Adobe PDF (.pdf) or Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) formats only.

We reserve the right for judges to move entries between categories (Starter and Pro) depending on entrants' level of professional experience.

No alternative prize will be offered.

Whilst you may enter this competition if you are under 18 years old or living outside the UK, please be aware the cash prizes are offered in Pound Sterling only, with payment only offered by BACS.

Prize monies will be paid to the owner of the BCG Pro account that submitted the winning entries. In the case of team-written submissions, it will be the responsibility of the account holder to distribute the prize money between other parties. Ensure all members of the team have agreed to the prize plan before entering.

Entrants agree to take part in publicity at British Comedy Guide's discretion should they be picked as a winner.