Tony Doyle Bursary Award

The shortlist that goes to the judges has been decided and congratulations to the scripts and writers below:

• Murder in the Lakelands by Patrick Nash
• Only One Problem by David Ireland
• The Dealer of Ballynafeigh by Rosemary Jenksinson
• A Pocket Full of Honour by Raymond Tierney
• The Pilgrimage by Chris Boyle
• East Side Princess by Vanessa Pope
• Christie by Chris Croucher & Mark Benyon

This year recorded the largest number of writers applying for the Tony Doyle Bursary. There was a real range of stories from serial killers, to Belfast based domestic dramas to period romps. We were surprised there weren't more theatre or radio scripts - but as this was the first year that the criteria opened up it is possible that some writers didn't pick up on it. We did notice a tendency for some writers to confuse feature film scripts with hour long dramas for TV - a lot of covering letters said a script was for TV when it was actually for the big screen.