There Are 3 Awards
Best Comedy Show Given for the most outstanding up-and-coming, funny, original, comedy show or act at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The prize is £8,000.
Best Newcomer This Award is for the performer or act who is performing their first full-length show (50 minutes or more) at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The winner will receive a cheque for £4,000. Please note that newcomers are eligible for the Best Comedy Show Award, if that is the Panel’s decision, but no act can appear on both shortlists in the same year.
The shortlists will be announced on Wednesday 26th August 2009.
Panel Prize This new Award celebrates the show or act who has most captured the comedy spirit of the 2009 Fringe. Like the Fringe itself, there are no rules. Everyone is eligible and there is no shortlist. It is entirely in the gift of the Panel. The prize is a cheque for £4,000.
The winners of all three Awards will be announced on Saturday 29th August 2009.
Edinburgh Comedy Award Eligibility Rules
1. The show must have opened by Thursday 20th August 2009 and have at least eight public performances between Thursday 20th August and Friday 28th August 2009 including Wednesday 26th, Thursday 27th & Friday 28th August. If the show opened prior to 20th August, then only five performances need to be performed between 20th and 28th August and at least two of these must be after the shortlist is announced.
2. The show must be stand-up, character comedy, sketch/revue, comedy musical cabaret or improv. The material must be original to the performer / show. Comedy plays are not eligible. Comedy music acts are eligible, but must be performing their own material, not cover numbers, although pastiche and rewriting is eligible. Bill shows are not eligible but where individual acts combine into a single show which is fully inter-relating, it will be judged on overall merit, not on an individual basis. Established acts should have substantially new material since the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2008. Performing other people’s material e.g. classic Frankie Howard or Bill Hicks, etc. is not eligible. For the avoidance of doubt, 'original' means material written by the act and their collaborators (co-writer, director, etc).
3. Acts considered to have 'star' status are not eligible. For the purposes of this Award a 'star' is defined as any act who has starred in a television comedy or light entertainment series on terrestrial television or regularly fills a 500-plus seat venue on their own name. For the avoidance of doubt, one-off or 'guest' appearances in a television comedy or light entertainment series or appearing in shows as a panel member where your name is not above the title do not disqualify an act. Please note that these rules apply to all shows including international acts, where the status in their home countries will apply. For the avoidance of doubt, where any grey areas occur, the live rule will be dominant.
4. The show must have a playing time of at least 50 minutes.
5. Previous winners of this Award, formerly called the Perrier Award and Intelligent Finance Comedy Award, are not eligible.
How The Awards Are Judged
All shows listed in the comedy section of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe brochure are automatically checked for eligibility. Shows need to be playing the dates as outlined above in order for the shows to be judged. If you think you are eligible, but are not in this category, please contact the Comedy Awards office.
All eligible shows are seen by the judging panel/ award administration team, who start covering shows from the first day of the festival. The judging panel consists of media professionals and punters judges.
The Shortlist is announced on Wednesday 26th August. All the panel then see all the shows again and the winner is selected and announced on Saturday 29th August.
How The Judging Works Day By Day
A Judging Panel of 10 is selected by Nica Burns, Director of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards since 1984. It consists of 7 professionals - comedy and theatre critics, TV and radio comedy producers - and 3 members of the public. The public panellists are comedy enthusiasts and regular paying audience members at comedy performances and apply to be on the panel through competitions in the Times, Time Out and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe website, www.edfringe.com.
A master list of shows to cover is drawn up when the Fringe programme is printed. The Award Administration goes through all the shows listed in the index under the category of “Comedy”. Each entry is checked to ensure that it complies with the rules, e.g. that it is not a comedy play, that it is original and that it is playing the dates specified.
The Award Administration starts scheduling all the eligible shows from the first day of the Festival. The Award Administration ensures that every show on the list is seen. As each show is seen, if merit is found in the show, then the Award Administration sends more panellists to see it. The Award Administration organises the panel members’ and support teams’ schedules and keeps a record of who has seen which show as the list is ticked off. If a panel member has noticed an omission from the list, or if a show has been inaccurately described and may be eligible, then it is covered just in case. If a group contacts the Award Administration asking to be seen, it is also checked out.
On the Sunday at the start of the third week, the Panel meets to discuss the shows it has seen so far, and to check through the list of shows to be seen. Every single show is discussed and a longlist of top shows emerges. The panel then continue to see shows still opening and the top shows they have not seen.
On the Wednesday morning of the third week, the Panel meets to decide on the shortlist. The remaining shows are debated again, until they are honed down to a shortlist of no more than 5. Every member of the Panel then has to see all the shortlisted shows again between Wednesday evening and Saturday night.
On the Saturday night of the third week, the Panel has its final meeting and decides on the winner after discussing all the shortlisted shows in great detail. The final vote is a written secret ballot, which is overseen by the Director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society.
The eligibility rules are distributed to all Edinburgh Festival Fringe Venue Managers and further copies are available from the Award Office or the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society.
