Journey of a Lifetime is a grant of £4,000 for an original and inspiring journey anywhere in the world, awarded to those with a curiosity about the world and the desire to communicate with a wider audience.

The winner receives radio and broadcast training from the BBC, and records their journey for a BBC Radio 4 documentary.

The 2011 recipient, Jane Labous, travelled to Mali to meet the men and women who dig river-sand, mud and gravel by hand for the African nation's buildings.

  Deadline: 21 September 2012

  Apply
  Journey of a Lifetime Award Guidelines (PDF) - guidelines for this year's Award are currently being updated
  Research Ethics and Code of Practice (PDF)

Video by Dave Waldman

Journey of a Lifetime recipients

 2011: Jane Labous - The Sand-diggers of Mali

 2010: Nick Hunt - From Riches to Rags: Dubai to India

 2009: Dan Box - The flood: Onboard the Carteret Fleet with climate change refugees

 2008: Emily Ainsworth - The Romance of Reality: An Exploration of Mexico from the Inside Out, Traveling with a Family Circus

 2007: David Waldman - From Mountain Tribe to Olympic Gold: Why Kenyans are the World’s Runners

 2006: Jessica Boyd and Bill Finnegan - Deep into the Rubbish with Cairo's Zabbaleen

 2005: Chris Brown - The high snows of Ladakh

 2004: Luke Freeman - Cattle roads and motorcades

 2003: Andy Home and Grigori Gerenstein - Land of black snow

 2002: Damian Welch - Hoping for a miracle: Tokelau

 2001: Tessa McGregor - By rocket to Tigerland

  Listen to previous winners' shows on the BBC Radio 4 Journey of a Lifetime website