Giles Cooper Awards


The Giles Cooper Awards were honours given to plays written for BBC Radio.
Sponsored by the BBC and Methuen Drama, the awards were specifically focused on the script of the best radio drama produced in the past year. Five or six winners were chosen from the entire year's production of BBC drama, and published in a series of books. They were named after Giles Cooper, the Anglo-Irish radio dramatist who wrote over sixty scripts for BBC radio and television between 1949 and 1966.
These awards ran annually between 1978 and 1992, instigated by Richard Imison at the BBC and Geoffrey Strachan at Eyre Methuen. There was no prize money, but publication was a notable mark of permanence in the ephemeral world of broadcasting.

List of winners

1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
  • Wally K. DalyTime Slip
  • Shirley GeeNever in My Lifetime
  • Gerry Jones – The Angels They Grow Lonely
  • Steve May – No Exceptions
  • Martyn Read – Scouting for Boys
1984
  • Stephen Dunstone – Who Is Sylvia?
  • Robert Ferguson – Transfigured Night
  • Don Haworth – Daybreak
  • Caryl PhillipsThe Wasted Years
  • Christopher Russell – Swimmer
  • Rose TremainTemporary Shelter
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991