2026

Sara Parker introduces the nominees and winners of the Charles Parker Prize 2026, set up in memory of her father. The prize celebrates the very best of a new generation of young audio feature-makers.

The pioneering BBC radio producer Charles Parker worked alongside musicians Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger to create the groundbreaking series of Radio Ballads during the late 1950s and 60s . The Ballads brought the voices and stories of ordinary people and communities to the airwaves, changing the sound of audio storytelling at the time by interweaving MacColl and Seeger’s music narrative through interview and actuality.

The prizes are awarded to five innovative students who celebrate and challenge ways of creative audio storytelling made by students across the UK from community run media to university and college courses.

Presenter Sara Parker, herself an award-winning radio producer, talks to the ten finalists as they share their experiences of creating their nominated audio features and includes extracts from the prize-winning features of; Sarah Frosh, Luned Elfyn, Kyra Edwards, Tara Darby and Willem Fisk-Nicholson, in addition to the five other nominees; Ruby Bridges Spackman, Chloe Sackur, Naomi Senior, Robert Sookhan and Kseniia Yakutina.

And you can hear the five winning features in full, including the Gold winner of the Charles Parker Prize 2026, by searching New Storytellers on BBC Sounds.

Producer: Shadé Joseph (Gold Winner of the Charles Parker Prize 2025)

A Soundscape production for BBC Radio 4 Extra.