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HOW IT WORKS
There are around 30 Panel members this year (I know right, so many to bribe), who will again be 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 again this year. These people will be allocated to see all the eligible comedy shows at the Fringe this year - around 700 shows - before the 15th Aug. After seeing the shows they then will tell us any shows they think could win one of the awards - how so they make that judgement - quite simply does 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 will create our long list of shows and from the 16th-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 be voted for and the 10 (ish) with the most votes for Best Show and 10 for Best Newcomer are the nominees. At the same time that the short-lists are announced for Best Show and Best Newcomer, short-lists will be released for Best Tech and Best Joke - no nominations needed for either as we see every eligible show and will contact you about the techs and jokes we love, but you can always contact us if you feel like we've missed something, but be aware we are all volunteers doing other stuff up here - don't worry, we see all the eligible shows, you will be seen! 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 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 and Best Tech with the Elf Lyons sponsored Award 'The Lyons Award for Tech' and the 106.9FM Takeover Radio 'Joke Of The Fringe'. 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/tech/joke? 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. We #seethisshow. Which shows are eligible? Any full length comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe that is performing before the 15th August and running until the 21st (see below for the key dates). The reason for this is with the nature of the judging process - long listing, short listing then judging winners it's not possible to include shows that are not at the Fringe for these dates. Compilation shows (shows with different lineups and/or made up of comics doing shorter sets) also 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? Jul 31 - Aug 14 Panel see all the eligible shows Aug 15 (morning) Long list is formed Aug 15 (midday) - Long List announced Aug 15-19 Panel see the long listed shows Aug 19 (evening) Panel vote for the short list Aug 20 (Afternoon) Nominees announced Aug 20-22 Panel see the shortlisted shows Aug 22 (evening) Panel vote for their favourites Friday Aug 22 late evening Ceremony and winners announced (starts 23:30) 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. 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 with 100% of the sponsorship money going to the winners, 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 Counting House (Ballroom) on the evening of Friday 22nd Aug at 23:30 Please request Guest List via the Contact Details |
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 2025. Solo performers and groups yes, but compilation shows aren't eligible and you have to be doing at least from the middle of the Fringe to the end as we won't be able to get enough judges 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 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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And there is a 5th Award for 2025, The Takeover Radio 106.9FM 'Joke Of The Fringe'. No submissions needed as we see all eligible comedy shows, we will see all the shows and we'll pick a top ten of jokes to be released 20th August and a winner, easy as that! Like all our awards, this will just be our judges' opinion, by far the more important thing in Edinburgh is word of mouth about the shows themselves, but hey, it's a bit of fun!
