Charles Parker Prize 2023

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BBC Radio 4 Extra

Charles Parker Prize: 2023

New Storytellers

2023

Charles Parker Prize

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Charles Parker Prize, 2023

Sara Parker introduces another new generation of exceptional student feature makers.

4 Extra Debut. Sara Parker introduces the winners and finalists, recognising exceptional student feature making in memory of her father.

Sara Parker introduces a new generation of student features makers, all winners and finalists of the Charles Parker Prize 2023 – set up in memory of her father.

The annual Charles Parker Prize celebrates a new generation of audio producers and storytellers - open to anyone studying radio and audio at Higher or Further Education establishments across the U.K.

Broadcast through the 1950s and 60s, along with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, Charles Parker's series known as the 'Radio Ballads' arguably left a lasting legacy on the landscape of radio storytelling; by interweaving original musical composition with remote interview recordings, and with a focus on highlighting working class voices - a practice until then unheard on BBC radio.

Charles’ daughter Sara Parker, herself an award-winning radio producer, hears this year's very best features; woven between highlights from their features, our ten new storytellers share their experience and journey creating their prize-winning work.

An “expertly montaged” undersea dive exploring how man-made sounds threaten underwater ecologies; the “delicate and mysterious” unveiling of a serial womaniser and his hitherto undiscovered children; the “beautiful and evocative” ode to the Irish language and its ‘life force’; an “engrossing and touching” investigation into the declining numbers of wild house martins; and a startlingly vivid and intimate depiction of two siblings’ relationship with their abusive late father that judges agreed was both “captivating and horrifying”.

There are extracts from the prize-winning features of; Thea Rickard, Dom Brown, Christina Hardinge, George Ruskin, and Lottie Steele, as well as five of our finalists; Kieran Davis, Petra Jones, Lydia Kenny, Matthew Temporal, and Alice Whalley.

You can hear the five winners’ work in full in the series ‘New Storytellers’ on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

Producer: Jay Sykes

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Soundscape Productions.

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Prizes awarded to students for the best radio feature, honouring the producer and writer

Prizes awarded to students for the best radio feature, honouring the BBC producer and writer who specialised in documentary radio and theatre

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Charles Parker Prize

2023

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