Comedy awards

These awards are open to comedy shows – please see the details of each award for entry specifics and sub-genres.

The Amused Moose Comedy Awards seeks out breakthrough comedy talent that is yet to become well known but could be said to be 'almost television-ready', who have their own solo, sketch or multiple performer comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe.

2023 award winners

Amused Moose Comedy Award – Debut Show
Louise Atkinson: Mates (Gilded Balloon)
Amused Moose Comedy Award – Most Fun Edinburgh Fringe comedy show
Dave Bibby: Baby Dinosaur (PBH's Free Fringe)
Amused Moose Comedy Award – Most Entertaining Edinburgh Fringe comedy show
Simon David: Dead Dad Show (Underbelly)

Entry information
Conditions of eligibility
- Shows must be listed in the Comedy section of edfringe.com as a solo, sketch or multiple performer comedy show.
- Shows must be listed as taking place on at least 10 dates between 10 and 21 August during Fringe 2023.
- Entrants must upload a film of their full show, and include the link to it in their application, by mid-July ideally (submissions open on 01 July). The sooner an entry is made with a link to the film, the more chance of it being watched by the large industry panel who sift the entries.
  
  Therefore previews filmed and submitted before 31 July (by the Sunday before the Fringe starts) will get priority. From 31 July until entries close on Sunday 13 August at 23:59 BST, the chance of the film being watching by most panellists will diminish daily.
- Film your full show as soon as possible and upload the film online (eg YouTube). Amateur filming is fine but performers must be visible and clearly heard; we recommend a number of performances are filmed, then the preferred one submitted.
- The submitted film must be of this year's Fringe show and filmed in June, July or early August 2023, and of a similar length to the show you have listed on edfringe.com.
Only shows meeting the following criteria should be submitted for inclusion:
- Entrants should be breakthrough comedy performers without a comedy agent; therefore the submitted show is likely to be a debut comedy show by performer(s) who are self-starters and believe they are 'television ready'.
- The performer(s) must be available later in 2023 / early 2024 for a paid showcase performance in London.
- The performer(s) is/are permanently resident in the UK and ROI.
- None of the performers and/or the show should have already won or been nominated for any other major comedy award, in the UK or elsewhere.
- None of the performers have previously been in a show which won any category in Amused Moose Comedy Awards.
- The performer(s) must not have a comedy agent / manager at the time the entry is made.
Respected comedy industry panellists view all the online submissions before selecting a large number of shows to be seen live from the beginning of the Fringe, from which panellists select six to ten nominees.

Award winners are selected by a judging panel of comedy industry professionals who have seen the nominated shows live.

There are usually three awards, generally awarded in the final week of Edinburgh Fringe.

Find out more and enter

Best Show, Best Performer and Best Person, as determined by those involved in comedy shows.

All comedy shows and performers are automatically eligible for Best Show and Best Performer – no need to do anything to put yourself forward. Best Person tends to be for someone who works behind the scenes at the festival, eg a venue manager, flyerer or agent. Each comedy show in the brochure is invited to vote once for their favourite show, performer and person. You can't vote for anyone in your own show.

In the second half of the festival, the online nominations / voting form is made available online. When voting closes, the show / person will the most votes at that point is announced as the winner of that category.

Visit comedy.co.uk for more information.

2023 award winners

Best Show
Julia Masli: ha ha ha ha ha ha ha (Monkey Barrel)
Best Performer
Sid Singh performing in Sid Singh: Table for One (Laughing Horse)
Best Person
Lydia Mason
This award was presented posthumously. Mason, a producer with Laughing Horse Free Festival, died unexpectedly during the Fringe, following a short illness.

Recognising the best artwork related to comedy shows at the festival. Any poster related to a comedy show performing at the festival can be entered. The winner of the Audience Award is whichever poster gets the most votes on the website. The Panel Award is determined by a jury of industry professionals.

2023 award winners

Audience Award Winner
Daniel Foxx's Villain, designed and photographed by Jiksaw.
Panel Award Winner
Bennett Arron's poster for Loser, designed and photographed by the comic himself.

2023 award winner

"I started dating a zookeeper, but it turned out he was a cheetah." Lorna Rose Treen.

Runners up

"The most British thing I've ever heard? A lady who said 'Well I'm sorry, but I don't apologise.'" Liz Guterbock.
"Last year I had a great joke about inflation. But it's hardly worth it now." Amos Gill.
"When women gossip we get called bitchy; but when men do it's called a podcast." Sikisa.
"I thought I'd start off with a joke about The Titanic - just to break the ice." Masai Graham.
"How do coeliac Germans greet each other? Gluten tag." Frank Lavender.
"My friend got locked in a coffee place overnight. Now he only ever goes into Starbucks, not the rivals. He's Costa-phobic." Roger Swift.
"I entered the 'How not to surrender' competition and I won hands down." Bennett Arron.
"Nationwide must have looked pretty silly when they opened their first branch." William Stone.
"My grandma describes herself as being in her 'twilight years' which I love because they're great films." Daniel Foxx.

Established in 1981 the UK’s premier awards are now in their 40th year. There are two awards:

Best Comic / Comedy Show: For the funniest, most outstanding, up-and-coming comic / comedy show / act at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The prize is £10,000.

Best Newcomer: For the performer or act who is performing their first full-length show (50 minutes or more) at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The prize is £5,000. 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.

For further information on the awards, please see comedyawards.co.uk.

2023 award winners

Best Comedy Show
Ahir Shah – Ends (Monkey Barrel Comedy)
Best Newcomer
Uruj Ashfaq – Oh No! (Assembly)
Panel Prize Award
A Show for Gareth Richards (PBH's Free Fringe)

How to enter

Panel Prize: Like the Fringe itself, there are no rules. Everyone is eligible. It is entirely in the gift of the Panel and Award Director and may not be awarded at all. The prize is £5,000.

All shows listed in the comedy and cabaret section of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe brochure are automatically checked for eligibility. Shows needed to be playing the dates as outlined in the eligibility rules in order to be judged.

For further information on eligibility, please visit comedyawards.co.uk.

All eligible shows are seen by the judging panel, awards administration team and scouts, who start covering shows from the first day of the festival. The judging panel consists of comedy critics, industry professionals (TV and live) and punter judges. The scouts are previous members of the panel.

For further information on the judging process, please visit: comedyawards.co.uk/how-the-awards-are-judged.

We LOVE the Edinburgh Fringe. We grew up with the excitement of the whole month, the amazing shows and the many awards on offer for comedy. We wanted to see whether a comedy awards where judges see all eligible shows could be run by volunteers. So here – they are the (ISH) Edinburgh Comedy Awards. ISH stands for Insert Sponsor Here and YOU or your company could have your name on the awards – just contact us to donate the £20,000 sponsorship we need for the three prizes.

2023 award winners

Best show
Julia Masli - ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Paul Foot - Dissolve
Best newcomer
Dan Tiernan - Going Under
Fiona Ridgewell - No-Nonsense
Panel prize
A Show for Gareth Richards - Mark Simmons and Danny Ward

Malcolm Hardee (1950–2005) was a British comic, agent, manager, club-owner and anarchic prankster. The Malcolm Hardee Awards were initiated at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2005, the year of his death, to celebrate and promote the spirit of madcap, anything-goes comedy anarchy that he personified.

There are three categories: Comic Originality, Cunning Stunt and Act Most Likely To Make A Million Quid. There is no application process... judges will be scouring the festival automatically on the look out for nominees.

comedy.co.uk/hardees

2023 award winners

Comic Originality
Phil Ellis (Monkey Barrel)
Cunning Stunt
John Fleming
Act Most Likely to Make a Million Quid
Julia Masli (Monkey Barrel)

A competition by NextUp (the Netflix of UK stand-up) to find the best comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe.

The winner receives the biggest award in comedy – a two-metre inflatable trophy – plus carry case, pump, £500 cash and the option to have their show recorded and distributed worldwide by NextUp.

Voting closes at 00:00 on 23 August. The winner will be determined by vote quantity (as voted by NextUp users) and a judging panel. The prize will be awarded on 25 August.

2023 nominees

Chloe Petts: If you Can't Say Anything Nice
Reuben Kaye: The Butch is Back
Anna Piper Scott: Such an Inspiration
Paul Foot: Dissolve
Lorna Rose Treen: Skin Pigeon
Lindsey Santoro: Pink Tinge
Tom Lawrinson: Hubba Hubba
Daniel Foxx: Villain
Ikechukwu Ufomadu: Amusements
Louise Young: Feral
Krystal Evans: The Hottest Girl at Burn Camp
Sian Davies: This Charming Man
Louise Atkinson: Mates
Kieran Hodgson: Big In Scotland
Ian Smith: Crushing
Milo Edwards: Sentimental
Paul Sinha: Pauly Bengali
Larry Owens: Larry Owens Live
Gillian Cosgriff: Actually, Good
Bill O'Neill: The Amazing Banana Brothers

2023 winner

Lindsey Santoro: Pink Tinge

The So You Think You’re Funny? competition was created by the Gilded Balloon and Karen Koren in 1988 to discover, support and nurture new comic talent.

2023 winner

First prize: Samira Banks

2023 runners up

Second prize: Christopher Donovan
Third prize: Lizzie Norm

How to enter

How to enter

The competition is the most successful of its kind in the UK and attracts over 500 applicants each year. Entrants must not have performed more than 15 stand-up spots (including open spots and virtual performances to live audiences) or gigged before 01 June 2021, and must be unsigned from any comedy agent or management company. For a full list of rules, please visit soyouthinkyourefunny.co.uk/essential-info.

Each competitor is given seven minutes to win over the judges; at the end of each heat a winner is announced and given a place in the Grand Final: a two-and-a-half-hour top bill of new comic talent. The winner will receive a cash prize, a run as part of Gilded Balloon's Fringe programme, paid performance slots at Latitude Festival, Glee Birmingham and the Boat Show in London, plus a complimentary headshot shoot by professional photographer to the stars Steve Ullathorne, and a complimentary filmed copy and professional photographs of their spot from the final to use in their show-reel.

As well as this, they will also win mentorship from Karen Koren and the So You Think You're Funny team, who are all committed to nurturing young comic talent with personal support and touring opportunities in the year following the Grand Final.

Previous So You Think You're Funny Award winners include Dylan Moran, Peter Kay, Lee Mack and Tommy Tiernan. Finalists include Johnny Vegas, Sarah Millican, Kevin Bridges, Rhod Gilbert, Rob Beckett, Russell Howard, Romesh Ranganathan, Jason Byrne, Lucy Porter, Mark Watson, Maisie Adam and Russell Kane.

For more information please visit soyouthinkyourefunny.co.uk/essential-info.

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Amused Moose Comedy Award

2023 award winners

The Comedian's Choice Awards, presented by British Comedy Guide

2023 award winners

The Comedy Poster Awards, presented by British Comedy Guide

2023 award winners

Dave's Joke of the Fringe

2023 award winner

Runners up

Edinburgh Comedy Awards

2023 award winners

ISH Comedy Awards

2023 award winners

Malcolm Hardee Awards

2023 award winners

NextUp Biggest Award in Comedy

2023 nominees

2023 winner

So You Think You’re Funny?

2023 winner

2023 runners up

Thank you!

Menu

Amused Moose Comedy Award

2023 award winners

The Comedian's Choice Awards, presented by British Comedy Guide

2023 award winners

The Comedy Poster Awards, presented by British Comedy Guide

2023 award winners

Dave's Joke of the Fringe

2023 award winner

Runners up

Edinburgh Comedy Awards

2023 award winners

ISH Comedy Awards

2023 award winners

Malcolm Hardee Awards

2023 award winners

NextUp Biggest Award in Comedy

2023 nominees

2023 winner

So You Think You’re Funny?

2023 winner

2023 runners up

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