Frank Muir Prize For Humour

Frank Muir began his entertainment career in the post-war 1940s, writing scripts for the English comedian Jimmy Edwards. In 1948, he teamed-up with fellow comic writer Denis Norden to create Take It From Here, a weekly series starring Edwards and Australian comedian Dick Bentley.

This was the beginning of one of comedy’s most enduring writing partnerships; Muir and Norden continued to collaborate for almost 50 years, producing such comic masterpieces as Peter Sellers’ sketch Balham, Gateway to the South, and starring together in radio panel games My Word! and My Music.

But Muir did not stop there. He was a writer and presenter on a number of other shows, including the infamous 1960s satire show That Was The Week That Was and The Frost Report, though he was perhaps best known to television audiences as a team captain on the long-lived BBC2 series Call My Bluff.

(Wikipedia; Frank Muir, Jimmy Edwards, Take It From Here)

In 1976, Frank Muir took up the post of Rector of the University of St Andrews, a position he held for 3 years. In 1979, towards the end of his term, he made a gift of £1000 to the University, to be endowed as an award given to the student who wrote and submitted the best piece of original, humorous writing.

Could you be that student?

Further particulars

  1. For the purpose of this prize, Humour is defined as literature written primarily to amuse the reader. The submitted pieces may have other qualities, e.g. wit and satire which have humorous elements, but the effectiveness of the wit and satire should be subordinate in the judges’ mind to the risibility of the humour
  2. The prize is open to presently matriculated students of the University.
  3. Entries must be original: in verse, prose, dialogue or any form which is essentially literary.
  4. There is no minimum length but entries should not exceed 1500 words.
  5. Only one entry is permitted per student.
  6. Entries may deal, however tangentially, with an aspect of the University based on the experiences of being a student at St Andrews. However any piece of original, humorous writing will be considered.
  7. The University reserves the right in any year (a) to withhold the Prize or to award a Prize of less value if no entry reaches the expected standard and (b) to share the Prize among more than one candidate whose entries are adjudged of equal excellence.
  8. Entries should be submitted by email to pa-facdeans@st-andrews.ac.uk. For this year’s submission deadline, please check the student memos.
  9. The value of the Prize is £350 subject to the conditions in paragraph 6 above.
  10. Submissions will be identified by student number only.