P.J. O'Connor Radio Drama Awards 2010

For 30 years the annual PJ O Connor Awards for Radio Drama have celebrated the best in new Irish writing

The 2010 competition is now open for entries. For the first time RTÉ Radio Drama is inviting candidates to submit radio plays of 55 minutes in duration - with a first prize of 3000 euros for the winning script, as well as runner up prizes of 2,000 and 1000 euro respectively.

Drama Homepage | History of the Competition | Award Winners

Entries

Closing date for entries is Wednesday, the 31st of March.

Click here for a copy of the competition rules.

Click here for an entry form.

or write to:

The PJ O Connor Awards
RTÉ Radio Drama
RTÉ Radio 1
Donnybrook
Dublin 4

or email: radiodrama@rte.ie

Guidelines for Submissions

Click here to see the RTÉ Radio Drama Playwrights' Guidelines.
Please use the script layout illustrated in the Guidelines.
Note: An hour play should not exceed 55 pages when using this layout.

A short history of the competition

P.J. O'Connor had been the Head of Radio Drama in RTÉ for ten years when he died in 1981. Those ten years under his guidance had been ones of great innovation and artistic endeavour in the Radio Drama department.

Before his tenure as Head of Drama, the department had a broader remit, when it was known as the 'Department of Drama and Variety'. P.J. had then been Assistant Head and, as such, had been responsible for the initiation and production of quite a number of variety programmes, such as 'Town Hall Tonight', as well as the normal drama output of plays and drama serials.

A man of many talents, he had distinguished himself in different aspects of Irish theatre as well as making his own innovative mark in radio.

As P.J.'s successor as Head of Drama, I had the opportunity to mark his great contribution to Irish theatre and radio in an appropriate and lasting manner. And so the RTÉ P.J. O'Connor Radio Drama Awards were born.

The competition as I planned it was for amateur drama companies to write, produce and perform a 15-minute play for radio. The 15-minute length was chosen as roughly equating that of the average short story, a medium in which the Irish have shown a particular talent.

The long term effect of the P.J. O'Connor Radio Drama Awards was to create a renewed interest in radio drama, both from the viewpoint of the listener and from that of the writer. The increased interest of writers in the great possibilities of radio drama has been demonstrated by the volume of scripts received by the Radio Drama department since the inception of the competition.

The ultimate test of the plays in the P.J. O'Connor Radio Drama Awards is that P.J. O'Connor himself would have thoroughly enjoyed them!

Frank O'Dwyer.
Former Head of Drama, RTÉ Radio 1.

Award Winners 2009

The overall winner was John Austin Connolly from Booterstown in Co. Dublin with Dylan, Thomasina and Me. Read more...

Award Winners 2008

The overall winner was Kevin Gildea from Dun Laoghaire in Dublin with 10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 7! 8! 9! 10! a black comedy in which the caller at the door could be a visitor or a visitant! Read more...