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The Felix Dexter Bursary is now part of the new ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Comedy Collective Bursary

The Felix Dexter bursary is an opportunity designed to find writers with a fresh, unique point of view and the potential to help shape the future of comedy, whether in the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ or elsewhere in the industry. It aims to make a positive intervention to address an under-representation of black and minority ethnic voices in comedy.

Unlike most bursaries that culminate in a one-off prize, this bursary gives trainee writers the chance to focus on comedy, writing full time over six months, while immersed in comedy production. They hone their skills while gaining experience on a range of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ comedies across radio, TV and online, on panel shows, shorts, sitcoms or comedy entertainment shows – building the confidence needed to take the next step in their career. They’ll also have the chance to develop their own scripted work alongside a mentor from the comedy commissioning team.

The bursary is open to black, Asian and other ethnic minority writers or writing duos who are aged 18 or over.

We’re proudly following the careers of every participant. 

In its first year, the Felix Dexter bursary supported northern writers Jonny Wright and Leah Chillery, whose placements took them behind the scenes on a range of shows from ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three’s Famalam and This Country to ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One’s Mrs Brown’s Boys and Radio 4’s Newsjack.

In the second year the bursary supported Phoebe Roy and Nathan Roberts. Since completing the bursary, Nathan made his Edinburgh Fringe Festival debut and Phoebe continues to write for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ shows, most recently supplying jokes on Mock The Week.

The third Felix Dexter bursary was awarded to stand up comedian Athena Kugblenu. Athena has said that the dedicated time to work on her pilot with the assistance from comedy commissioning, and introductions to contacts across the industry, have helped to develop her craft to a professional standard that has allowed her to work on a whole range of shows post-bursary.

The latest winner of the bursary is writer Tiwa Lade. She will be based in ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ offices across the UK whilst on the bursary. While working on her script alongside a mentor from the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ comedy team, Tiwa has spent time in development with Roughcut, writers rooms for C³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ, Radio 4 and Zeppotron, attended read-throughs and has built a network of contacts across the industry.