Supporting Documentary Excellence

Film and TV Funding Award

The Film & TV Funding Award is awarded annually to an emerging filmmaker from anywhere in the world with the most promising pitch for a director-led documentary. The main award is £100,000 with a runner up development grant worth £20,000.

Applications are CLOSED.

The Podcast Pitch

The Podcast Pitch is a joint initiative with Sheffield DocFest now in its third year. This year The Whickers are giving a £15,000 production award to the winner and £5,000 to a runner up.

Applications are CLOSED.

Bursary Schemes

We have teamed up with four established documentary development forums in parts of the world where funding is limited due to economic or socio-political reasons. Through them we are awarding a £3,000 bursary each year.

See our partners’ websites for application deadlines.

Announcing the winner: The Whickers 2025 Close Up Bursary Winner

We are delighted to announce the winner of our bursary in partnership with Close Up Initiative, now in its fourth year. …

C - Finalists (Pic Version) - Tile Post (Website)

Announcing Our 2025 Podcast Pitch Award Judges

We are thrilled to announce our panel of judges for the 2025 Podcast Pitch Award in partnership with Sheffield DocFest.…

Meet The Whickers’ and Sheffield DocFest Podcast Pitch Award Finalists 2025

We are thrilled to unveil our six final projects for the 2025 Podcast Pitch Award. In, what is only our…

Who We Are

The Whickers were established in 2015 to fund and recognise original and innovative documentary. We seek to use the generous legacy of our namesake, pioneering broadcaster Alan Whicker, to support emerging film and audio documentary-makers in the funding and production of director led programmes.