Call for 1 minute radio documentaries

The First Spark Radio Festival began in 2009 when Soundart Radio relaunched under a Community Radio Licence for South Devon after a couple of years as a student station for Dartington College of Arts.

The station wanted to celebrate the delights and challenges of producing radio art in a rural location, to engage with the multiple faiths of the local community, and the nostalgia for Devon's farming heritage. First Spark is part of a programme of work at the station around the sometimes-forgotten fire festivals of Beltane, Lammas, Samhain and Imbolc. Imbolc, which falls on 2nd February marks the midway point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, and is a time of the very earliest signs of Spring: small buds peeping up through the snow, or maybe just howling winter storms. So First Spark celebrates the earliest sign of spring, but also new music, new ideas in radio, transmission and electronic arts. The festival usually includes on air discussions, radio artworks and live events.

First Spark 2013 has the subheading 'Alternatives to Journalism' and Soundart Radio is inviting anyone and everyone to join them in a storytelling adventure, by submitting one minute radio documentaries to be played during the festival. A winning documentary will be chosen by four judges who share the station's passion for creative citizen journalism: Steve Bowbrick, head of digital for Radio 3; Tamar Millen, arts Co-ordinator for the Community Media Association; Caroline Mitchell, senior lecturer in radio at the University of Sunderland and sound artist and radio producer Mark Vernon.

These are the guidelines:
--The deadline is 5pm on Friday, 18th January
--Your radio documentary can be on any theme and told in any format, so long as it is audio only. 
--It should be within a hair's breadth of 1 minute (ok let's say between 55 and 65 seconds)
--Give it a great title as no other information (eg pictures, explanatory text) will be taken into account by the judges.
--It must be entirely your own work, though could be an edit of something you have made before. Don't use music unless it was composed for the piece and credited properly.
--You can enter as a team or as an individual.
--You can enter as many times as you like, but don't try to tell a story in a series of episodes! Each minute should stand alone.
--Submit your work at http://soundcloud.com/firstspark/dropbox
--Just tell us the title, an email address and if you are over or under 18.  

 
Poems, songs, field recordings and surprises all welcome, so long as they convey a true story.
Happy recording!

For more information visit http://firstsparkradio.blogspot.co.uk/