The Third Coast Festival also runs a shortform audio competition called Radio Ephemera.
http://www.thirdcoastfestival.org/shortdocs_2008_archive_about_RE.asp

Entries can be documentary or fiction, or a hybrid of the two. And there seems to be a trip to Chicago for the winners...

The Third Coast Festival (www.thirdcoastfestival.org/) is held annually in Chicago to celebrate and showcase all forms of audio work.

They've commissioned five short "phone plays" which are well worth a listen at http://www.thirdcoastfestival.org/audio_library.asp

More info on the plays:
WAIT FOR THE BEEP
A collaboration with Steppenwolf Theatre to create a
series of mysterious "phone plays"

Imagine this scenario: A cell phone rings and the owner is no where in sight...
so you pick it up. You see that there are unheard messages and, driven by curiosity,

Thomas Lopez of ZBS, an American outfit specialising in making audio drama, has just finished a set of 50 "2 Minute Film Noirs".

They're very high quality and highly entertaining, conjuring up rainy streets, neon signs and dames who aren't quite what they appear.

Here are a few as an appetiser:
http://www.zbs.org/Film_Noir_for_Blogs/01%20Chez%20Tootsie.mp3

http://www.zbs.org/Film_Noir_for_Blogs/03%20Barking%20Guns%20&%20Dancing...

http://www.zbs.org/Film_Noir_for_Blogs/04%20A%20Big%20Sack%20of%20Wind.m...

http://www.dradio.de/wurf/index.php/en/Home/Information

The Germans have a name for it !
Wurfsendung is the short-form radio drama broadcast by Deutschlandradio.

And they have five tips to enjoying a wurfsendung ......

01. You can listen to a wurfsendung programme while your tea is brewing, your computer is booting up, or you are tying your shoelaces.

02. Physical discomfort or a troubled mind are no impediment.

03. You can listen while seated, walking up and down, or standing; if using appropriate technology also regardless of broadcast time and reception.

Sparks is the name for a BBC Radio Drama writers initiative which takes place every year (run by the BBC Writers room www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom and the Radio Drama Department). Up to ten writers are nominated by radio drama producers across the UK, and they come together for a 2-day workshop. This time, because the audiotheque was up and running we decided that it would be interesting to get the writers to work in groups of 3, and to give them a Marantz recorder and a mic and ask them to write and record three short audio pieces in the course of a three-hour session.

I've been subscribing to various broadcasters podcasts. This programme - The Night Air - from ABC Australia has a wonderful collection of podcasts, with an eclectic mixture of soundscapes, narrative pieces and discussion.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/nightair/default.htm

At the end of this week (Friday 30th November) I will be closing down the Audiotheque Google Group.

I will copy to www.audiotheque.co.uk the links and the background information that we have posted so far.

Today I've added Conor's links to the Links Forum on this site. There is some excellent examples of innovative audio on these sites.

Please feel free to add more links to new threads.

You might be thinking - yes I'd like to make a short audio drama piece, but where do I start ?

Why not have a look at http://www.onesentence.org/ a fantastic site where people are posting one sentence stories.

Welcome to the first blog of the Audiotheque website. After many months of hard work, we now have a version of the site that we can test and pilot. So many thanks to Nathan for spending so much time developing the site and taking on board my occasionally incoherent wishes.

Over the next few months we are hoping to promote Audiotheque to many new users, and to migrate some of the older Audiotheque blogs and groups on to a single site.