The John Brabourne Awards

The John Brabourne Awards, run by the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund, are now open for applications.

The John Brabourne Awards are a stepping stone for up and coming talent driven to further their experiences and careers in all aspects of film and television. The awards also seek to help those disadvantaged in some way, either through lack of funds or set-backs due to illness or accident.

There are two types of award, the CTBF Awards and the Sponsored Awards.

The CTBF Awards provide cash sums of between £1,000 and £5,000 to assist with training, rental of equipment, or the costs of travel, rent, bills or childcare.

The Sponsored Awards offer new talent direct access to essential industry experience, through paid work experience at leading companies and/or access to training, equipment or materials, and in some cases a mentor.

Since the May 2007 launch of the awards the CTBF has been able to secure substantial support from the film and television industry, with companies such as Kodak, Arri Media, ITV, Endemol UK and Turner Classic Movies all contributing to the awards. The scheme has a total of 13 corporate sponsors offering 12 different awards, with an overall value of around £200,000.

As part of the Sponsored Awards, they are running the Big 5 Comedy Award:

We are looking for a talented individual to write a 10 minute comedy short that has the potential to be made into a short film. The CTBF in conjunction with the UK Film Council will provide the funding to help finance this production as well as taking advantage of the BIG 5 Sponsors who are all offering the following services.

Scripts for the Big 5 Comedy Award must be received by February 28th 2010.

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