News
Graduating Actor Wins Top BBC Radio
Drama Award
Final year actor Rhys Jennings is
one of four winners of the 2009 BBC Carleton
Hobbs Bursary Award. He will be awarded a
five-month contract with the BBC Radio Drama Company beginning in
July.
Around 80 students from 20 accredited UK
drama schools compete each year for this prestigious
award. RWCMD has a history of success in the competition
with seven previous winners and four runners up. Winning
the bursary is not so much about the chance of gaining a job and a
regular pay-cheque, but the opportunity of extending a
student's training in a unique acting environment - one where
they’ll work with the best actors and writers in the country on a
wide range of contemporary and classic plays.
Marilyn Le Conte, Senior Lecturer in Acting,
coaches students in intense rehearsals in the period running up to
the competition. “This was my 22nd in a row. I
am the longest serving school competition coach - by about 15
years! I love it and I am delighted to be able to offer this
year’s win as a surprise 60th birthday present to the
College! The Carleton Hobbs Award has long been a gauge for
assessing which schools are thriving and it’s my hope that our
record of success will have enhanced the reputation of
RWCMD."
Named after one of Radio’s most distinguished
actors, the Carleton Hobbs Bursary initiative has been run by BBC
Radio Drama every year since 1953. It aims to discover distinctive,
versatile radio voices to form the next season’s Radio Drama
Company, a regular ensemble of actors working with BBC Radio Drama
to produce hundreds of hours of plays, series, dramatisations and
readings for Radio 3, Radio 4, the World Service and BBC 7 each
year.
For more information see the BBC Carleton Hobbs
website.