The Listening Books Award for the Spoken Word

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Our award has been presented annually in May at The Guardian Hay Festival to someone who has used his or her voice in a way that has made a special impact, with nominations coming from our members, staff and supporters. Previous winners have included impressionists, actors, comedians and authors.

If you would like to nominate a winner please click here to email your suggestion.

This enterprise is made possible by the generosity of The Guardian Hay Festival and others who freely give their time and energy to this initiative and we are grateful to them all.

As a champion of Listening Books, James Naughtie has presented the award on our behalf. Click here to hear why he supports us and why he believes so passionately in the spoken word.

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Alan Bennett - Winner 2009

James Naughtie, host of the ‘Today’ programme on BBC Radio 4, presented Alan Bennett with the Listening Books Award for the Spoken Word 2009 at the Guardian Hay Festival.

Alan Bennett wins the award in the same year that Listening Books celebrates its 50th anniversary. Bennett’s career ignited in 1960 as a result of the comedy stage revue ‘Beyond the Fringe’ with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Jonathan Miller. Today he stands as a vastly accomplished author, actor, humorist and playwright.

© Hay Festival
As a friend and supporter of Listening Books, James Naughtie describes Alan Bennett’s career to date by saying that he has “not only been a patient observer of all our foibles and strange ways, but a writer who never settles for second-best. No one in our time has used the English language with more love and to greater effect. His is a still, small voice in our heads that will always be with us”. He describes his style as “making us laugh andcry – sometimes at the same time – for more than 40 years”.

Rory Bremner, who won the first Listening Books Award for the Spoken Word in 2005, argues that Bennett’s status as a national treasure, “while reflecting the affection for him amongst the public, somehow underestimates the sharpness of his intelligence. The breadth of his knowledge, and the acuteness of his observation, mean his work is as profound as it is enjoyable. The thought of being able to listen to more of his work is a delight”. 

Follow this link to read an interview with Alan Bennett at The Guardian Hay Festival.

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Sandi Toksvig - Winner 2008

© Sandi Toksvig

The Listening Books Award for the Spoken Word 2008 has been awarded to the author, comedian and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig.

Sandi Toksvig wins this award because of her versatility. A prolific author of fiction and non-fiction for children and adults, she has also voiced audio versions of her own books, and those of other writers – including 'Spooky Poetry' with Nigel Planer, Jacqueline Wilson's 'Tracy Beaker' stories, and 'The Fwog-Pwince: The Twuth' by Kaye Umansky.

Sandi's instantly recognisable voice is familiar through her many appearances on radio and television, including her role as presenter of 'The News Quiz' and 'Excess Baggage' and as a panellist on 'I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue', 'Mock the Week', 'Call My Bluff' and 'QI'. As well as being one of the funniest women in Britain, she has not been afraid to speak out about current events on 'Question Time'.

Click here to see Sandi being interviewed by Mariella Frostrup at The Guardian Hay Festival.

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Maureen Lipman - Winner 2007

© Maureen Lipman

The charity is proud to announce that the winner of the 2007 Listening Books Award for the Spoken Word is the actor and writer Maureen Lipman.

The award is presented to someone who has used their voice to make a difference or give pleasure – and Maureen Lipman does both. Over nearly 40 years her acting career has taken in everything from Shakespeare to 'Doctor Who', via the National Theatre production of 'Oklahoma!' and the part of Dim Sum opposite Ian McKellan's Widow Twankey in the celebrated Old Vic pantomime, 'Aladdin'. She has appeared in plays by her late husband, the great Jack Rosenthal, and of course she was Beattie in the classic British Telecom adverts. Last year she took up the challenge of reading out the phone book to a live audience – and was not only a sensation, but raised £165 for charity by auctioning the book afterwards. She has a special place in the hearts of Listening Books' members, who love to borrow her recordings. Among the most popular are her renditions of Joyce Grenfell's work on 'Choice Grenfell', and her readings of her autobiographical books including 'How Was it For You?' and 'Something to Fall Back On'.

Nominations come from the members, staff and supporters of Listening Books, and the winner is chosen by a panel of four judges: Stephen Fry – patron of Listening Books, Joanna Lumley – actor, Bill Dee – director of Listening Books, and Peter Florence – director of The Guardian Hay Festival.

Maureen Lipman received her award from James Naughtie, presenter of the BBC Radio 4 'Today' programme at The Guardian Hay Festival on Bank Holiday Monday, 28th May.

After receiving her award Maureen kindly recorded an interview for us. Click here to listen to it in full.

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Melvyn Bragg - Winner 2006

© Justin Williams

The Listening Books Award for the Spoken Word 2006, goes to Lord Melvyn Bragg. He was presented with the award by James Naughtie before an audience of over 1000 people at The Guardian Hay Festival.

Again, the task of judging this award was not made easy by the number of great nominees coming mostly from Listening Books members, but Melvyn Bragg stood out from them all. Melvyn Bragg has been at the heart of British cultural life for more than 40 years. A familiar television face, especially on 'The South Bank Show', his distinctive voice is also instantly recognised, not least because of his frequent appearances on radio, a medium he clearly loves. His was one of the first distinctively regional accents to be accepted in serious broadcasting. He wins this prize partly for the use of his own voice, and partly for his studies of the way other people use theirs. This is a tribute to his vocal performances on the audio versions of his own novels, for such programmes as the erudite but accessible 'In Our Time', and for his epic analysis of a thousand years of spoken language in 'The Routes of English' on Radio 4, and 'The Adventure of English' on ITV. Most recently, again on Radio 4, he used new technology to explore the contents of our speech in 'Do You Know What You Are Saying?'' Through his championing of scientists on 'Start The Week' and of historians and philosophers on 'In Our Time', he has made an unprecedented and unsurpassable contribution to the development of unashamedly intelligent conversation.

There can be no doubt that he is a worthy winner of this year's Listening Books Award for the Spoken Word. The sound of his voice has become a by-word – or a by-sound! – for an engaged and enquiring mind that has opened our lives to the biggest and most adventurous ideas on the planet. The cultural industries have few more eloquent advocates than Melvyn Bragg, and The Guardian Hay Festival, as have many, many others throughout the UK, has benefited for twenty years from his generosity, encouragement and support.

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Rory Bremner - Winner 2005

© Rory Bremner

The Listening Books Award for the Spoken Word 2005, goes to Rory Bremner.

Rory Bremner was presented with The Listening Books Award for the Spoken Word 2005, before an audience at The Guardian Hay Festival, 28th May 2005, by Listening Books' patron, Stephen Fry.

Nominations for this award included all sorts of people from politicians and clergymen to TV presenters and pop stars. The task of the judges could have been impossible, but in the end it was easy, because one of the nominees can very convincingly represent all the others.

And Rory Bremner is far more than just an impressionist. Without doubt he is one of our greatest entertainers, but there is a political edge to his work that has turned his television programme into required viewing for everyone interested in current events. As broadcasters have been cutting back on serious news programmes, Rory has used comedy to make a wider audience think about world events. It has even been said that at a time when the government had a huge majority in Parliament, Rory and his colleagues on ‘Bremner, Bird and Fortune' were the most effective opposition around. But the other parties didn't get off lightly. No one has been spared his relentless debunking of pomposity and incompetence. This is an award for the spoken word. It is hard to think of anyone who has used his voice more skilfully in the past year.