Doctor Who news: Write a short story for Big Finish!
By James Aggas
Big Finish enters its fifth year of the Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trips Opportunity – a chance for aspiring Doctor Who writers to submit their own short story!
Every year, Big Finish launches a major competition. The Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trips Opportunity gives aspiring writers the chance to write a Doctor Who audio story for Big Finish, specifically one for their Short Trips range, which will be released at the end of the year. As recently announced, the competition is open again once more.
The Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trips Opportunity is named after someone who was a huge part of Big Finish, who passed away on May 8, 2014. Nicholas Briggs, one of the executive producers of Big Finish, remembers his colleague and friend.
"Although it’s always painful to remember the loss, it’s a great consolation to recall his incredible positivity, sense of fun and, to honour the way in which he was always keen to encourage new talent.It’s for that reason that our former colleague and Doctor Who Short Trips producer Ian Atkins proposed this Memorial Writers’ Opportunity, and I’m so impressed with how our current Short Trips producer Alfie Shaw has picked up the baton and continued to find the most creative and exciting new writers out there."
Forever Fallen is just one of the previous winning stories – and it’s a story that you can listen to for free right now!
Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions
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A huge opportunity
This is certainly quite an opportunity for new writers. The competition enters its fifth year and has given us several strong stories already. From 2016 to 2019, we’ve seen the release of Forever Fallen by Joshua Wanisko; Landbound by Selim Ulug; The Last Day at Work by Harry Draper, and The Best-Laid Plans by Ben Tedds.
The previous winners are certainly worth checking out. Not only are they strong stories in their own right. Not only are these stories free to listen to, and therefore, are great jumping-on points for Big Finish’s work in general. But they also help to give a strong indication of what Big Finish are looking for: nothing too big, just strong, character-focused stories with great ideas. For more details, be sure to check out the terms and conditions here.
This competition has given us some really great stories already, and I’m excited to see exactly what the next one will bring. But if you want to submit your own story, then make sure you do it quickly: the competition closes at 23:59 UK time on Jun 30.
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Are you keen to write for Doctor Who, in any format? If you could write for any Doctor, which one would it be? Let us know in the comments below.