About NNC

New Normal Culture

New Normal Culture is an Irish based audio and multimedia company run by Zoe Comyns.
We have produced programmes for BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service, BBC Radio 3 and RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ Radio 1 Extra, Newstalk and RTÉ Lyric FM. We also provide training and advice for radio and audio in Ireland.

We work with a wide range of independent producers in Ireland and internationally.

photo by Emily Quinn

Zoë Comyns

Zoë is an award winning Independent Radio Producer working across live radio, documentary and drama. She is the inaugural Podcaster-in- Residence for the Royal Irish Academy in 2021, creating a series of podcasts about nature writing inspired by the academy collections. She is currently working on programmes for BBC and RTÉ. She is the recipient of an Arts Council funded Literature Bursary 2020 and the recipient of the John McGahern Award for Literature 2019.  

She and New Normal Culture and have been nominated for /won 30+ awards for audio work. Over the past decade she has produced numerous documentaries for radio including Shakespeare’s Starling BBC Radio 4 (winner Arts & Culture AIB Awards), ‘Art from the Anthropocene’ for BBC World Service (2019), Counting Down on the 2018 8th Amendment Referendum for BBC WS,  Seen From a Distance for RTÉ Radio 1 (Ake Blomstrom Award –  International Features Conference 2013 and Best Narration – New York Festivals 2013). 

Zoë’s dramas include Owing to the Failure Of for Dublin International Fringe Festival 2018 (nominated for Best Design), Flights of Fancy starring Alan Stanford and Frank Kelly (New York Festivals Best Writing Award 2012) and Another Blooming Day starring Ruth McCabe (PPI Award for Best Drama in 2009) and Potbelly starring Dawn Bradfield and Enda Oates for Old Testament, New Tales on RTE Radio 1. Zoe has directed for RTÉ Drama on One, most recently Quicksand by Elizabeth Moynihan (Silver IMRO 2021) and Personal Space by Mairéad Kieran, starring Evanna Lynch and India Mullan). 

Zoë has reported for The History Show and written for The Living Word on RTE Radio 1 and was the Series Producer for The Book Show,  Inside Culture and The Book on One for RTÉ 1  between 2013-2018 and Culture Shock for Newstalk from 2006-2010. She’s worked as Associate Lecturer in DCU for 3 years and prior to radio she worked in television.

Her fiction and non-fiction has been published in Gorse journal, The Lifted Brow and she won the 2018 Los Gatos Irish Arts and Writers Festival Short Story Competition 2018. 


New Normal Culture Awards

We have been nominated for and won over 30 awards in the past decade.

Zoë Comyns as Guest Director for RTÉ Drama on One 2021 IMRO Awards – Silver Award Best Drama  for Quicksand by Elizabeth Moynihan.

New York Festivals 2021: Silver for Biography/Profile Finalist for Ethel Voynich – Music, Mystery and Manuscripts – The Lyric Feature

AIBs 2020 (Association of International Broadcasters Awards) – Shakespeare’s Starling currently nominated in the Arts and Culture category. (Gold winner)

AIBs 2020 (Association of International Broadcasters Awards) – Pilgrim Paths nominated in the Human Interest category (produced by Regan Hutchins).

IMRO Awards 2020 – Best Short Feature – (shortlisted) Keywords Am I?/Common Ground for RTÉ Radio 1 Extra.

IMRO Awards 2020 – Best Arts, Music and Culture Documentary (shortlisted) Ethel Voynich – Music, Mystery and Manuscripts – The Lyric Feature)

Prix Marulić  –  Shakespeare’s Starling BBC Radio 4Pre-Selected (festival cancelled due to 2020 pandemic) –  Documentary

Culture & the Arts –  New York Festivals 2020 – Bronze Award.

2019 Frankenstein in the Age of Artificial Intelligence  RTÉ Radio 1 – New York Festivals  – Science and Technology (GOLD)

Counting Down – BBC World Service – New York Festivals – Social Issues (Finalist)

Tristram Shandy – RTÉ Radio 1 – Best Narration – New York Festivals  (Finalist) (produced by Regan Hutchins)

IMRO Awards 2018 – A Song of Winter (Best Short Feature) – GOLD (produced by Regan Hutchins)

IMRO Awards 2018 – Tristram Shandy (Best Documentary) – shortlisted (produced by Regan Hutchins)

Dublin Fringe Festival 2018 – ‘Owing to the Failure Of’  – nominated for Best Design for this audio-immersive production.

Inside Culture (LA Dreams) Finalist – Arts & Culture NYF 2018

The Book Show (Song of Winter) Finalist – Best Sound  NYF 2018 (produced by Regan Hutchins)

Inside Culture (Summer of Love) Finalist – History NYF 2018 (produced by Regan Hutchins)

Prix Marulić  – Pre-Selected 2018 (results May ’18)-  Short Form (Song of Winter) (produced by Regan Hutchins)

AIB Awards 2017  Shortlisted –  (Inside Culture – LA Dreams)

2017 Bronze –  (The Book Show – Culture Night Live Show) – New York Festivals

2017 Bronze –  (The Book Show – Christmas Day Episode) – New York Festivals

2016 Bronze –  (The Book Show – Mountains to Sea/Women and Words) New York Festivals

2015 Finalist – Arts and Culture Award (The Book Show – Walking and Writing Episode) New York Festivals

2015 Finalist – Best Interview (The Book Show – Clive James at Home) New York Festivals

2014 Finalist – Arts and Culture (The Book Show series) – New York Festivals

New York Festivals 2013 Gold – Best Narration (Seen From a Distance)

Ake Blomstrom Award – Winner – International Features Conference, Norway (Seen From a Distance)

New York Festivals 2012 Gold – Best Writing (Flights of Fancy)

2012 Finalist – Best Sound (Flights of Fancy) – New York Festivals

2012 Finalist – Best Drama (Flights of Fancy) – New York Festivals

PPI Radio Awards 2010 Silver – (Culture Shock on Newstalk FM)

PPI Radio Awards 2009 Gold – Best Drama (Another Blooming Day)

PPI Radio Awards 2008 Shortlist – (Culture Shock on Newstalk FM)

Training

Programme Making courses delivered:

Irish Writers Centre: Writing for the Ear 2021

Audio Irish Masterclass – November 2021

Learning Waves 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2021

Gréasán na Meán 2014, 2015