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1) This competition is open to writers of African origin – either those born in Africa, those whose parents are African or those who are a national of an African country – over the age of 16 as at the closing date (2400 GMT on Saturday 22 January 2011).

). Entrants must not be employees of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ or ´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service Trust, anyone connected with the competition or their close relatives. Entrants need not be resident in an African country to be eligible.

2) Entrants should write a radio play of approximately 30 minutes in length which is suitable for broadcast on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service and for publication on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service's . Please read and time your play before you send it. The play should have a maximum of six central characters. It can be on any subject as long as it authentically touches the lives of Africans. Your play should be accompanied by a short synopsis of no more than 200 words, which outlines the complete story of the play.

3) The play must be written substantially or entirely in English. Unfortunately, we do not have the facility to offer a translation service so that any use of a language other than English must be minor and a translation note should also be included. Entries that have been translated must acknowledge this fact by giving a credit to the translator or translators.

4) Scripts should be typed if possible on A4 paper or handwritten neatly using one side of the paper only.

5) The play must be the entrants' original, unpublished work. Professional and previously published writers are eligible to enter, but this is not a requirement of entry.

6) The ´óÏó´«Ã½ will award a first, second and third prize. In addition, up to three other plays may be highly commended.

7) The ´óÏó´«Ã½ will require evidence of eligibility before announcing the winners and those highly commended. If the entrant cannot be contacted after reasonable attempts made by the ´óÏó´«Ã½, or eligibility cannot be verified, the entry will not be taken further.

8) If, for whatever reason, the entrant wishes to be known publically under a different name (including for professional or personal reasons) then this should be indicated on the entry form and reiterated if called by the ´óÏó´«Ã½. For clarity – this will be separate from the judging process and will in no way impact on the result.

9) In the case of an entry by two or more writers, we will need written or email confirmation from each writer involved that they are prepared to take a share of the rights fee and are prepared to receive those funds from a nominee, who will be one of the writers, as the rights fee will be paid to one individual only. The nominee will be selected by the writers and it will be his or her responsibility to distribute the rights fee to the other writers and the organisers can take no responsibility for that aspect.

10) You may re-submit a play which has been entered a previous year. However, no entrant may submit more than two plays in any one season.

11) Entries will be judged by a short-listing panel comprising of drama producers from ´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service. The winners will be selected from the shortlist by an independent judge. The decision of the short-listing panel and the judge will be final and no correspondence will be entered into. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ does not accept any responsibility for late, delayed, damaged, ineligible, fraudulent or lost entries. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt. The right is reserved for the whole script not to be read if it is clear that the quality of writing or subject matter is unsuitable or in breach of these rules.

12) The ´óÏó´«Ã½ regrets it is unable to acknowledge receipt of plays or return entries, so remember to keep a copy.

13) The play entered in the competition must not - at the time it is submitted - have been offered for publication, performance or broadcast in any other form or medium to any other person or company. The winning plays will be deemed to have entered into an undertaking not to accept offers for their entries from other broadcasters or publishers before December 2010.

14) By entering the competition entrants grant the ´óÏó´«Ã½ the right to produce the winning entries either in ´óÏó´«Ã½ studios or on location using a cast of professional actors.

15) The ´óÏó´«Ã½ reserves the right to edit or alter the winning entries if it is necessary to make them better fitted or more suitable for broadcast. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ would expect entrants to collaborate and assist with such adaptations if asked to do so for no further payment.

16) Subject to a satisfactory recording being made, the winning plays will be broadcast on ´óÏó´«Ã½ African Service in August 2011. No fee will be payable other than the £1000, £850, £650 or £500 sterling offered as the rights fee for two broadcast cycles. Thereafter, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ will be entitled to broadcasting and other rights on the terms of the applicable ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Drama contract which will be concluded with the winners.

17) The ´óÏó´«Ã½ may wish to seek from entrants certain additional rights in their plays for educational/development purposes which may include - but not be limited to - permission to record scenes of the play to be available online at http://www.bbc.co.uk and possibly for broadcast. Entrants agree that the right for the ´óÏó´«Ã½ to record and possibly broadcast/use scenes from their play online in this way will be available to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ in principle, subject to negotiation of appropriate terms for the exact use in question at the time.

18) The prize(s) must be taken as stated and cannot be deferred.

19) The ´óÏó´«Ã½ reserves the right to withhold prizes, amend the rules or to delay or cancel the competition in whole or in part if they consider it necessary or if, the standard of entries so justifies.

20) It is a condition of entry that entrants warrant that their work is original, contains no defamatory matter (provided, however, that they shall not be liable for any defamatory matter which in the opinion of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ was included in the script without negligence or malice on their part), also that it does not contain any quotation from copyright material without appropriate permission having been obtained. Entries must not be obscene or in any way unsuitable for broadcast. Such entries will be immediately disqualified.

21) This competition opens on 1 November 2010 and all plays must reach us in London by midnight 2400 GMT on Saturday 22 January 2011.

22) The names of the short listed entrants and the titles of their plays will be posted on the competition website in March 2011. Following the final decision by the judge, the winners' names and the titles of their plays will be posted on the website by April 2011. You can access the competition website by visiting .

23) The winning plays will be recorded between March and May 2011.

24) Winners agree to take part in any post-competition publicity as required.

25) The ´óÏó´«Ã½ reserves the right to exclude any entry from the competition at any time and in its absolute discretion if the ´óÏó´«Ã½ has reason to believe that an entrant has breached these rules.

26) Entrants will be deemed to have accepted these rules and to agree to be bound by them when entering this competition.

27) The ´óÏó´«Ã½ will only ever use personal details for the purposes of administering this competition, and will not publish them or provide them to anyone without permission. You can read more about the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Privacy Policy at .

28) This competition is run in line with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Code of Conduct for competitions and voting which can be accessed at .

29) These rules are governed by the law of England and Wales.

The Promoter: The ´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service of Bush House, 76 Strand, London WC2B 4PH.