The 8th of May is always Big Finish's saddest day. To commemorate the much-missed Paul Spragg, the Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trips Opportunity is open for a third year.

Four years ago today, Big Finish received the terrible news that Paul Spragg, the cheerful, much-loved person at the heart of the Big Finish production office, had died suddenly.

“It was one of the worst days of my life,” remembers executive producer Nicholas Briggs. “And in so many ways, I believe I am still in shock at the loss. He was always full of such happiness and positivity.

“The tide of condolence emails Big Finish received in the numb days after showed just how missed he was by friends and listeners alike – and continues to be.

“Paul was often in touch with writers who'd email in, and a few years ago Ian Atkins came up with the idea that an excellent way to remember him would be to give these very people a chance to work with Big Finish.

“It's a great way of celebrating the memory of Paul and encouraging new talent, which Paul was always very keen to do.

“And so the Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trips Opportunity was created, giving new writers a chance to submit a story idea for a Doctor Who Short Trips. Over the last two years we’ve read many wonderful original stories from new writers.”

The first winning story selected from over a thousand submissions, was Forever Fallen by Joshua Wanisko, and the end result, narrated by Nick, can be found here as a free download.

And last year we had the excellent Landbound by Selim Ulug.

Now in its third year, the Paul Spragg Short Trips Memorial Opportunity is open again from today until the end of June. The full list of conditions can be found here, and should be read by anyone planning on sending a new story to us over the coming weeks.

Please note that some new updates to the Short Trips Memorial Opportunity are happening this year. As we received so many wonderful ideas in the first year and even more last year, to give each writer a fairer chance we’d like to request that each writer submits a maximum of two story submissions.

Previously the competition was only open to Classic Doctor Who, but this year we’ve been able to broaden our horizons. Story submissions can also include Doctor Who in the New Series defined as running from the 1st Doctor up to the 12th Doctor in Twice Upon a Time. The exception to this is the War Doctor – due to licensing agreements we cannot include the War Doctor in this Opportunity.

Submissions should be emailed to competitions@bigfinish.com, formatted as per the guidelines, before 23:59 on 30th June 2018. The winning writer will be contacted before the end of July. If you’re looking for inspiration or some hints on what to include, you can find Selim’s original submission in the supplementary content for Landbound.

“I'm looking forward to reading some great new entries,” concludes Nick. “Good luck to you all!”