THE iSHOW MUST GO ON
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The Edinburgh Fringe is amazing.
Edinburgh Awards for comedy are exciting! So here are the ... (ISH)* Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2024. * Insert Sponsor Here |
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HOW IT WORKS
Here's how it worked with dates for 2023, we'll be back in 2024... There are approx 30 Panel members this year (I know right, so many to bribe), who have been chosen via a very careful vetting process of shout outs on Facebook and asking around. They all have the crucial credential of 'being in Edinburgh anyway' - so they are performers, producers, technicians, anyone with some time to spare to make the awards work for free this year. These people were allocated to see all the eligible comedy shows at the Fringe this year - around 600 shows - before the 14th Aug. After seeing the shows they then told us any shows they thought could win one of the awards - how did they make that judgement - quite simply did it make the judge and/or the audience laugh lots?! (it's a comedy award - controversial we know!). As we all know being judged as well as judging is hard and unscientific, but this main rule tries to remove too much subjectivity that there might otherwise be - if your show is getting loads of big laughs and/or makes the judge laugh lots then you're in with a great shot. Not everyone can win and be nominated of course, and not winning doesn't mean your show isn't great - and there's always a chance that it's seen on the wrong night for you (doesn't that always happen?!) - Anyway at the end of the day you will know how good your show is, you don't need us to tell you! This has created our long list of shows and from the 14th-20th Aug many of those same 30 people will see more of the 'long listed' shows allocated at random and again are asked – who is brilliant? The shows will be seen the same number of times and favourites will all go into the 'bucket' and the 10 with the most votes for Best Show and 5 for Best Newcomer are the nominees. In the next few days some of the same judges (however many we can get in if your show is rammed) will try to get around all those ten shows they haven’t seen and then vote for the one show they think is the best in each category. They also vote for the one thing they think should win the Panel Prize. Those with the most votes are the winners and get the prizes. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How can we be sure the panel judges will see my show? We've taken all shows registered with edfringe.com in the comedy section that are eligible (see below) and added those from other places that may not have registered with edfringe.com. So we think we've got it covered but if you feel your show may have slipped through our net please do contact us. We really want to get around every single show, we'll do our best. Which shows are eligible? Any full length comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe that is performing for the full run or pretty much the full run (see below for the key dates). Compilation shows (shows with different lineups and/or made up of comics doing shorter sets) aren't eligible sorry. If listed in the brochure, the show will have the primary category of 'comedy'. How can we help? We will try to get tickets and get into see your show without you having to do anything, but if someone contacts you and says they're a ISH Edinburgh Comedy Award panel member and ask you to give them a free ticket for your show, please give them one! That would be really helpful. At shows they attend they will have an ISH Awards ID badge with their name. If it's a free show, that should be easier for us - we will get in and any problems will let you know. What are the key dates? Aug 1 - 13 Panel see all the shows Aug 13 Long list is formed Aug 14 Midday - Long List announced Aug 14-19 Panel see the long listed shows Aug 20 (evening) Panel vote for the short list Aug 21 (morning) Nominees announced Aug 21-25 Panel see the shortlisted shows Aug 25 Panel vote for their favourites Aug 26 10.30am Ceremony and winners announced Are the panel independent and can a judge win a prize? The judging process detailed above is fairly foolproof when it comes to any bias as the sheer number of judges will be voting for their favourites. Being a panel member doesn't preclude them from winning an award, but obviously along with not being able to vote for any show they have any connection with they can't vote for their own show. I mean, obviously. How does the sponsorship work? We are looking for one sponsor to give us the £20,000 needed to fund the 3 awards. The moment we get a sponsor, the awards and website etc will carry their name instead of 'ish'. If we don't get a sponsor, there will just be the prestige on offer (and a very small cash prize, and a trophy if we can afford them). What if I want to question something? We're going to do our best to see every eligible show and do everything we can to make these awards as good and fair as possible. If we miss something, or we don't do something right, please be kind and know we just have the best intentions of having an Comedy Awards run by volunteers this year, and let's face it, although we love Awards, it's not the main thing about the Festival is it? When and where is the ceremony? It's at the Three Sisters (Maggie's Chamber) 10.30am Saturday Aug 26th. |
THE AWARDS
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BEST SHOWThe best show, the one we and/or the audience think is the funniest, performed by anyone at the Edinburgh Fringe 2023. Solo performers and groups yes, but compilation shows aren't eligible and you have to be doing pretty much a full run as we won't be able to get everyone seeing your show otherwise.
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BEST NEWCOMERThe best show, the one we and/or the audience think is the funniest from someone doing their first full length show at the Edinburgh Fringe. What do we mean by first full length show? Well if you've done a full run of your own Fringe show before (ie 45 mins+) and not in a compilation then you'd qualify instead for Best Show category!
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PANEL PRIZEThe panel judges will tell us anyone else they want to give an award to from all the amazing things that happen at the Fringe and the thing with the most votes gets the prize. We, the organisers of the ish Edinburgh Comedy Awards this year, suggest heavily it goes to us but you do whatever you think is best. You do you!
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