Jane Ray | Artistic Director | The Whickers | UK Apart from running The Whickers, Jane Ray is a multi-award-winning documentary maker in her own right with 29 years on staff at the BBC. She started as a reporter and ended up as an Editorial Guardian for Worldwide Production.

Now she combines The Whickers with running her own company, Cat Flap Media. Cat Flap has consulted on documentaries selected for Sundance, Venice, the BAFTAs and the innovative hybrid doc that opened IDFA last year.

As well as being an advisor and pitch host Jane has also run doc courses, and podcasts and has an Honorary Fellowship for services to Documentary at University College London.

The Whickers

The Whickers was set up 10 years ago with the generous legacy of Jane Ray's colleague, the pioneering broadcaster, Alan Whicker. It aims to fund and support emerging directors of international, independent documentaries in today's competitive market.

Its top prize of £100,000 has been won twice by Indian first-time feature-length filmmakers, the most recent being Vikram Singh for Camels of the Sea. Vikram was also a former winner of the Docedge Whickers bursary. The fund also supports podcasters with awards of up to £15,000.

Website:https://www.whickerawards.com