Radio & Audio Funding Award Finalists 2019

We are delighted to present the five outstanding finalists for The Whickers Radio & Audio Funding Award 2019. Click on the images below for further details on the projects that were selected to pitch for a chance of winning £7000 at Open City Documentary Festival 2019.

WINNER: A Perfect Match | Ibby Caputo

RUNNER-UP: Hummingbird Stories | Navin Sam Regi

BLIND.ED | Ade Bamgbala

Building the Wall | Becca Bryers

I am the River, the River is Me | Rikke Houd

Building the Wall | Becca Bryers

Building the Wall follows sports chaplain Richard Gamble, who believes God has told him to build a national monument dedicated to Christian prayer, as he pushes himself to the limit – mentally, financially and spiritually – to make it a reality.

Producer: Becca Bryers has spent most of her career producing live radio for BBC Local Radio and now makes the award-winning podcast, Multi Story.

Judge Nina Garthwaite said: “A story of (literally) biblical proportions with a very compelling character who promises to give us an insight not just into the process of his external project, but also into his inner world.”

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I am the River, the River is Me | Rikke Houd

In this documentary, you meet a being that happens to be a river. You meet people who hurt when the river hurts and people who hurt it.

Producer: Rikke Houd is an award winning Danish independent working internationally in the field of crafted audio storytelling and documentary art. 

Judge Steve Titherington said: “This was a proposal rich in resonance, sound and relevance as the world wakes up to the links between humans and nature.“

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A Perfect Match | Ibby Caputo

A Perfect Match is the story about who is more likely to live and who is more likely to die after being diagnosed with blood cancer. It’s a personal story about bone marrow transplantation that illuminates a much larger story about racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare around the world.

Producer: Ibby Caputo is an award-winning journalist based in the U.S. and the Senior Editor of the podcast Overheard at National Geographic.

Judge Steven Rajam said: “An important and often overlooked contemporary story told with real humour and verve…with a terrific relationship at its heart.“

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BLIND.ED | Ade Bamgbala

BLIND.ED (Blind Education) is an innovative documentary for ‘third culture kids’. We follow Ade, a 30-year-old British-Nigerian man, attempting to make a working sense of his identity by travelling to Nigeria to visit his father, look him dead in his eyes and ask the question ‘where have you been?’

Producer: Ade Bamgbala is a freelance digital marketing coach and the founder of Blacticulate, a platform that shares black stories and positive actions via podcasts and workshops. He produced and hosted award-nominated podcast Blacticulate, Stories that Stick and an ongoing advice series called Gradual podcast for the University of Arts London.

Judge Nina Garthwaite said: “The audio teaser was full of life and creative production ideas which supported the maker’s willingness to make himself vulnerable and explore a story that has the potential to resonate with audiences on multiple levels.”

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Hummingbird Stories | Navin Sam Regi

Set in one of Australia’s three children’s hospices, this is a story of grief and loss.

Producer: Navin Sam Regi is a journalist and educator interested in marrying documentary photography with narrative audio, living in Brisbane, Australia.

Judge Steven Rajam said: “A distinctive treatment of profoundly sad subject matter that avoids mawkishness and offers real, rounded voices the space to tell their story.“

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