NEws
And the 2023 winners of the DNMT New comedy writing competition are…
Writing duo, Rebecca Bain and Alex Garrick-Wright, have won this year’s competition with their script Borderline taking the top prize in the Trust’s sixth annual new comedy writing competition. The runners up are Al Nash for his script Chasham Till I Die and Amy Harrison with her script Facing Up.
Top prize winner Rebecca said: “We are absolutely blown away to win this year's competition! The DNMT carries with it such prestige, from the previous winners to the judges and board of trustees, and we're honoured to join the ranks.”
Fellow winner Alex said “The script reflects us - half Scottish, half English, odd and pretty funny” and Rebecca adds “Thank you from me and thank you from him”.
Runner up Amy Harrison said: “… I can’t thank the trust enough for providing a platform where comedy writers can showcase their work and get validation from the industry…. A result from the DNMT is like a signpost that tells you to keep going. For all writers who applied… keep going!”
Runner up Al Nash said: “'I'm delighted to be a runner up amongst such great writers! I've entered the last 4 years and this is the furthest I've got, so that feels good.”
New Comedy Writing Shortlist announced!
It’s been tough for our readers to whittle the longlist down, but we have our shortlist of five scripts. Congratulations are in order for:
Alex Nash
Eleanor Mason & Caitlin Powell
Steve Blair
Rebecca Bain & Alex Garrick-Wright
Amy Harrison.
We encourage our longlist to keep writing and expect to see your work out there soon!
Announcing the 2023 DNMT New Comedy Writing Longlist!
Congratulations are in order to the following writers who have made it to this year’s longlist. Each script has been read and marked twice by our fantastic readers from the comedy industry, to whom we are very grateful!
In no particular order:
Ryan Walker-Edwards
Joe Sutherland
Tom Worsley
Toby Parker Rees
Paul Angliss
Amy Harrison
Eleanor Mason and Caitlin Powell
Alex Nash
Joz Norris
Jonny King
Rebecca Bain and Alex Garrick-Wright
Faye Treacy
Jaskaran Bahia
Steve Blair
Ana Basu
Watch our 2022 Edinburgh panel show!
The David Nobbs Memorial Trust was delighted to be joined by the Writers Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) at the 2022 Edinburgh International Film Festival for the Comedy is a Serious Business: How to Get Ahead in Comedy Writing panel. Moderator Lucy Porter led top comedy industry panelists Jack Rooke, Amna Saleem, Steve Canny and Lee Ridley to share tips and ‘what not to do’ to get into comedy writing. Watch the video here!
Thanks to Paul Maguire for filming and editing the video.
Rhiannon Shaw wins the 2022 David Nobbs New Comedy Writing Competition
Rhiannon Shaw has been announced as this year’s winner of our annual David Nobbs Memorial Trust New Comedy Writing competition. Rhiannon said: “I’m absolutely delighted, and so grateful to the panel for picking me as this year’s winner. To even have my name in the same sentence as a comedy legend like David Nobbs is a tremendous honour, and more than I could ever have dreamed of when I started writing comedy. Past Tense is a script about time travel tourism. More generally, it’s about the very human urge to change the past – and winning this competition will change my future. Isn’t that neat? Thank you so much to the Trust, and to everyone who knew and loved David. I’m thrilled.”
This year’s runners up are Benjamin Sutton, for his script Paps and Charlie Dinkin who submitted a collection of comedy sketches. They each win £250.
Competition judge and owner of Yellow Door Productions Lucy Lumsden said: "It’s been an honour to be involved with the David Nobbs Competition once again as I’m a passionate believer in supporting new writers. It’s such a vote of confidence to even make the shortlist and I wish the winner a long and fruitful career in comedy.”
Congratulations to the winners!
Announcing the 2022 New Comedy Writing Competition ShortList!
The 18 scripts fortunate enough to make it to our longlist have been whittled down to a lucky seven, the writers to make the shortlist are:
Nick Chen
Joanna Tilley & Krysia Pepper
Benjamin Sutton
Rhiannon Shaw
Dan Hooper
Charlie Dinkin
Ana Basu
The winners will be announced in August 2022.
The 2022 New Comedy Writing Competition Longlist is here!
Our script readers from the comedy industry have pored over the entries for this year’s David Nobbs Memorial Trust New Comedy Writing award, each script has been read and scored twice and we can now announce those who have made the longlist.
In no particular order:
Nick Chen,
Joe Reaney
Joanna Tilley & Krysia Pepper
Benjamin Sutton
Tom Worsley
Peter Dickenson
Orlando Gibbs
Mike Sheldon
Rhiannon Shaw
Joe Barnes
Ollie George Clarke
Sean Stoakes
Dan Hooper
Tom Oxenham
Charlie Dinkin
Caroline Mabey
Luke Rollason & Kit Sullivan
Ana Basu
Congratulations!
Announcing 2022 Competition final round judges
We are delighted to announce the final round judges for the fifth annual new comedy writing competition. This year our lucky finalists will have their scripts judged by Lucy Lumsden, owner of Yellow Door Productions and formerly head of comedy commissioning at both Sky and the BBC, Welsh actor, comedian and author Katy Wix (Ghosts, Stath Lets Flats) and actor, writer and producer Barunka O'Shaughnessy (The Mighty Boosh).
Lucy Lumsden says: “The David Nobbs Memorial Trust competition is a great stepping stone for the industry”.
Katy Wix said: “I can’t wait to pass judgement on the future of comedy!”
The deadline for submitting entries has passed and readers from across the UK comedy industry are preparing the longlist ready to be announced in May.
DNMT 2022 Launch announcement coverage
We were pleased to see the launch of our 2022 competition, with an increased cash prize of £1000, was covered in the following comedy industry sites…
as well as being mentioned in the Comedy Crowd and British Comedy Guide newsletters.
Watch this space for more…
DNMT press coverage
We were delighted to see the news of Zoë Tomalin, Zara Janjua, Kate Reid and Zak Ghazi-Torbati’s success in the David Nobbs Memorial Trust New Comedy Writing competition covered on the following site:
Runner up Zara Janjua was interviewed by Sarah Walker on BBC Radio Berkshire.
Zoë Tomalin wins the 2021 DNMT New Comedy Writing Competition!
Zoë Tomalin has won the 2021 David Nobbs Memorial Trust New Comedy Writing Competition! Zoë splits her time between working in unscripted comedy development as an assistant producer, churning out sitcom scripts, and gag writing. Her jokes have recently appeared on shows including Have I Got News For You, Hypothetical, Mock the Week, The News Quiz and The Now Show. She’s also the co-creator of award-winning sketch podcast SeanceCast, a comedy-horror showcase of new women and non-binary writers. Zoë said: “It’s a real honour to accept a prize named after the late great David Nobbs. I’m beyond thrilled that the judges connected with my script Creeps, a dark comedy about a washed-up actor who accidentally kidnaps his three obsessive teenage girl superfans. I can’t wait to use the award to develop more projects centring problematic, complicated - and frankly kind of gross - women. Thank you!”
Kate Reid and Zak Ghazi-Torbati’s script The Other Half and Zara Janjua’s script Scottistani were placed as runners-up. Congratulations to all!
Presenting the 2021 DNMT New Comedy Writing Shortlist
We received a record number of scripts this year for the David Nobbs Memorial Trust New Comedy Writing competition, 18 readers from across the industry read and scored them to whittle down the 177 scripts to a shortlist of six. The winners will be announced in July 2021. In no particular order the talented writers to make it to the shortlist are:
Kate Reid & Zak Ghazi-Torbati Louise Stewart James Horscroft Zoë Tomalin Liam Kelly Zara Janjua Cameron Loxdale Francesca Sewell & Kirsty Robinson-Ward
Announcing new plans for the DNMT
It’s been a very exciting year for the Trust with an increased number of competition entries and some very welcome funding that will enable us to manage the Trust more robustly and improve the support we offer to early-career comedy writers. To reflect this growth we will be applying to register with the Charity Commission, a process that will be initiated later this year as the Commission is currently focused on working through applications from charities responding to the Covid crisis. We hope to share more news in the autumn.