Paul Spragg Competition 2026 Winner Decided
The annual Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trip Opportunity is a tribute to our much-missed colleague Paul Spragg. It offers new voices a chance to write a Doctor Who audiobook, and this year once again attracted a wide range of entries.
Prospective writers were invited to submit a story synopsis and extract featuring the First Doctor. The judges have chosen a winner, who has now been contacted.
The 2026 judging panel consisted of:
- Nicholas Briggs, Big Finish’s creative director;
- Peter Anghelides, producer and script editor of the Doctor Who – Short Trips range;
- Mark Wright, range script editor of The First Doctor Adventures;
- Dominic G Martin, Big Finish producer;
- Stephen Noonan, voice actor playing the First Doctor.
Peter Anghelides said: “All five of us were impressed by the creativity and variety of proposals for these short stories. Our winner will now be commissioned to write their complete story, and Big Finish will announce the winner’s name after the story is recorded later in the year.
“And as a new addition this year, we’ll also publish a commendation list of writers from our competition shortlist who impressed us with their entries. We will get in touch with them ahead of that announcement later this year.”
The new adventure will be released as a free download in December. But Big Finish listeners eager to hear the First Doctor don’t need to wait until then. Check out the First Doctor Collection, which includes stories from the ranges The First Doctor Adventures, The Companion Chronicles, Short Trips, The Early Adventures, and The Lost Stories.
The previous winners of the Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trips Opportunity, all available to download for free, are:
- 2016: Forever Fallen by Joshua Wanisko (Seventh Doctor)
- 2017: Landbound by Selim Ulug (Third Doctor)
- 2018: The Last Day at Work by Harry Draper (Second Doctor)
- 2019: The Best Laid Plans by Ben Tedds (Twelfth Doctor)
- 2020: Free Speech by Eugenie Pusenjak (Tenth Doctor)
- 2021: The Lichyrwick Abomination by Joe Vevers (Ninth Doctor)
- 2022: The World Tree by Nick Slawicz (Eleventh Doctor)
- 2023: The Hoxteth Time Capsule by Paul Davis (Sixth Doctor)
- 2024: War Stories by Patrick Ross (Twelfth Doctor)
- 2025: The Wednesday that Wasn’t by Luke Hollands (Thirteenth Doctor)
Latest news
Free Day Friday
Each week we highlight an excerpt from our Big Finish For Free! collection. If you like what you hear, you can save 25% off the full release!
Latest Podcast
Big Finish Podcast 2026-08-07 Fast Tides
Nick and Benji present... The Chat: Podcast history. Behind-the-scenes and Drama Tease: Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Dark Tides. Also available: The Twelfth Doctor Adventures: Run Fast Be Kind: Duty of Care.
