Humanities Pitching Competition | Training Session | 2023

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In Michaelmas Term 2023, the Humanities Division presents a TV and radio pitching event taking researchers and students ‘Inside Creative Industries’ 


Please be aware this event is for humanities researchers at the University of Oxford only 


In collaboration with Lion Television and Whistledown, the Humanities Division invites researchers to propose ideas for research-based radio and TV programmes. 

To kick off the competition, humanities researchers are invited to a training session in the month before proposals are due. During this training session, participants will have the opportunity to learn about the different ways academics can work with radio and TV, questions to consider when writing a pitch, what commissioners are looking for and much more! 

Successful applicants of the Pitching Competition will be given the opportunity to discuss and develop their programme-making ideas with development producers from Lion TV and Whistledown.  

Lion TV is one of the UK’s most successful and trusted television production companies, having won BAFTA’s, EMMY’s Royal Television Society and Broadcast Awards to name a few. Each year they created hundreds of hours of innovative, entertaining and thought-provoking television with strengths in entertainment formats, daytime, ambitious science and history shows, international co-productions and feature documentaries. They work with some of the world’s leading television talent to produce compelling stories for many major broadcasters and streamers including Netflix, National Geographic, BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV, and Sky.  

Whistledown is a multi-award-winning specialist audio production company making programmes, podcasts and audio series for broadcasters, publishers and podcast platforms for over 20 years. With studios in London, Glasgow and Berlin, our focus is on factual storytelling, long form journalism, reactive and topical material, as well as engaging and lively conversation shows and a creativity-first approach to audio. Our partners include BBC Radio, BBC World Service and BBC Sounds, European broadcasters and American Public Radio as well as Audible, Spotify, Global Media and Amazon Music. We also work with Politico, The Economist, Daily Telegraph and the FT and commercial clients as diverse as Ikea and the Church of England.   


To register for the training session, please email Tasha Patel (tasha.patel@humanities.ox.ac.uk) with the following information:

  • Name
  • Faculty/Department
  • Career Stage
  • Dietary Requirements

Please note: Registrations for this training event close on 8th September 2023