In May, Big Finish announced the first of a yearly tribute to Paul Spragg, our much-missed colleague who died suddenly in 2014. The Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trip Opportunity is an annual chance for writers new to Big Finish to write a Doctor Who Short Trip, and hear their work read by Big Finish Executive Producer Nicholas Briggs, in a release offered free to all Big Finish listeners.

Ian Atkins is producer of the Big Finish Doctor Who Short Trips ranges, and was a friend of Paul's for 15 years: "If it hadn't been for Paul, I wouldn't be here in an amazing job which I love dearly," he said, "There's not a day goes past something doesn't happen I want to tell him and hear him laugh about. He was always hugely supportive of new writers who contacted us, and this seemed an appropriate way to remember him - as if he could ever be forgotten! His family have been very positive about this opportunity too."

"We had just over a thousand storylines and excerpts submitted," Ian adds, "All of which were read, and then shortlisted, and shortlisted again, until a very tough decision was made. The quality was wonderfully high. All of us here want to thank everyone who put pen to paper (finger to keyboard doesn't sound as evocative), especially the many who mentioned Paul in their emails, and we're sorry there can only be one winner."

"I hope people don't think we're teasing, but we're not naming the writer or the story until it's all 'in the can' in the autumn. So many things can change on any production between that first acceptance and the end result, and it's unfair to put a writer under that spotlight. But things are now underway, and we do already have a release date: Paul's birthday was 29th December, so going forward that's when this free Doctor Who Short Trip will be available."

A Just Giving charity donation page in Paul's name can be found here.