A nationwide call for new music drama for Radio 3 produced a fantastic haul of over 400 submissions with a real range and mix of submissions.

Open to all, the competition invited writers to submit a proposal (and the opening ten-fifteen minutes of script) for an exciting and original new play which re-thought the role of music and song in radio drama.

At this stage there is no overall winner. The judges have decided on a strong shortlist of three:

I Thought I Heard Buddy Holden Shout by Laurence Allan from Pontypridd

Vanishing Point by James Mavor from Edinburgh

The Singing Nanny by Nicola Baldwin from London

The judges included opera / theatre director Phyllida Lloyd, actor / writer Lennie James and composer Harvey Brough.

The winning script will be given a full BBC commission by Radio 3, and broadcast on the network in 2006.

Congrats to them. I would have thought they could stretch the budget to make all 3 if they were all strong.

It's a shame they didn't have a longlist, though. 400 entries and only chosing 3, leaves 397 people disappointed (me being one of them, though I didn't think I stood much of a chance, as it is open to all).

Elspeth