Cor blimey! It’s the 24th June 2014 and our first ‘own-brand’ original audio drama, SOMETIME NEVER, by Scott Harrison has won the NEW YORK AWARD for Best Drama (a radio/audio ‘Oscar’)…we are flabbergasted and amazed!
The New York Festival Awards recognise the best radio and audio work from around the world, with amazing productions going head to head to win the coveted and prestigious awards. Entries come from broadcasters on every continent, in every language and it is a real honour to go up against the finest producers in the world.
This is our first year entering the awards as Spokenworld Audio/Ladbroke Audio, although our MD (Neil Gardner) has won numerous New Yorks over the years for his radio productions. It is also our first ‘own-brand’ audio drama, our first attempt to forge a path away from the BBC, to prove you don’t have to be Radio 3 or 4 to be a drama producer/commissioner.
This was a team effort from start to finish, and there is no praise high enough for the incredible skills and talent brought to the production by all involved. SCOTT HARRISON wrote a beautiful and thrilling script (in 4 weeks, against a tight deadline!) that allowed the actors to really exercise their thespian chops. SIMON JONES and ROSALYN LANDOR brought their amazing acting talents and a whole shed-load of enthusiasm, bringing the characters to life and adding subtlety and flavour. Direction and sound-design by Neil Gardner pulled the whole thing together, creating light & dark and building a believable audio environment. And the cherry on the top was the sumptuous original score composed by virtuoso JAMES DUNLOP, lifting the entire production to new heights. Congrats to one and all!
You can grab a copy of the audio drama by CLICKING HERE.
So…that is audio drama #1 done, dusted and weighed down by trophies. Time to move on to drama #2…coming soon!
P.S. Congrats to our sister company LADBROKE PRODUCTIONS, who won the Gold New York Award for their documentary LIVING WITH MEMORY IN RWANDA. It seems only right that their last ever BBC radio production, after 30 years in the business, should be lauded with such a worthy award. You can hear the documentary by CLICKING HERE.
BUT WAIT…ANOTHER AWARD?!
It is Friday morning (30th May 2014) and cor blimey guvnor we’ve only gone and won an AUDIE AWARD! That’s right, our audio anthology “Thirteen” (which can be bought HERE) edited by the amazingly talented Scott Harrison, won the ORIGINAL WORK category at last night’s awards in New York. This is staggering news, and we are all a little shocked…but ever so pleased!
“Thirteen” was the first original audio title produced by us and our sister company Spokenworld Audio (as opposed to audiobooks based on existing titles) and was an experiment to see if portmanteau / anthology audiobooks would be popular and could work as a medium. It took almost 2 years to complete production, and was only possible due to the incredible generosity and talent of the authors and readers. It took the skill and enthusiasm of Scott Harrison to pull it all together, and I think anyone who has heard it will agree it was a mighty fine achievement.
So now we’ve won our first major international award (and they come no more prestigious in the audiobook industry) and I believe we can call “Thirteen” a success. We’ve not stood still since releasing “Thirteen”. Check out all the new single voice readings of non-fiction works, our own-brand Whisper Wings fairy tales and the first in a new series of 30 minute 2-person audio dramas (starring the fantastic Simon Jones and Rosalyn Landor) – all available over at Spokenworld Audio (and on Audible and iTunes). We’ve got a lot planned for the years ahead, including more anthologies and lots more drama.
Thank you once again to everyone who helped make “Thirteen” the success it is. Let’s see if we can bring more glory to the UK audiobook industry as the years progress!
