Danny Stack has won the BBCNI Tony Doyle Bursary Award for New Writing at a ceremony held at BBC Broadcasting House, Belfast, for his coming of age drama 'Run for Home’.
The story is about a young Irish boy sent to live with his aunt after the death of his mother. As he struggles to settle into his new surroundings, he discovers the shattering truth about his mother's death and his discovery threatens his chances of staying with his aunt.
On winning the award, Danny, who originally hails from Cobh in County Cork, but now resides in London said:
"I have to give special thanks to the Doyle family and BBC Northern Ireland Drama for this opportunity. Tony Doyle was a legend and hero of Irish film and television, so to receive an award under his name is a great honour. Also, when you decide to give up everything to become a writer, you face so much uncertainty and insecurity about you work and how you're going to break into the business, so receiving an award like this certainly helps to boost your confidence as well a point you in the right direction of the people who commission TV Drama”.
Beginning his TV and Film career as a special effects assistant in Ardmore Studios, Ireland, Stack also appeared on Irish TV as a film reviewer for JMTV, a youth magazine programme. After moving to London, he worked in Channel 4's Entertainment department where he worked closely with the commissioning editors and producers on the channel's sitcoms and comedy series including 'Ali G' and 'Black Books'. He then began script reading for Miramax, Working Title and Pathe (amongst others), and has script edited numerous Channel 4 animations on a freelance basis.
He has just started writing his first episode of Doctors for the BBC and his feature script, 'The Good Guys', was optioned by Legend Films and is in development in Ardmore Studios, Ireland.
Runners up were Ruth McCracken, originally from Newcastle, County Down but now based in Milton Keynes and Martin O'Brien from Runcorn outside Liverpool but now based in London.