These awards are open to theatre shows – please see the details of each award for entry specifics and sub-genres.
The Carol Tambor Award
The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award considers all productions given four or five stars by the Scotsman newspaper's team of critics. The only other criterion that must be met is that productions must be new to New York. The winning company or performer is offered $25,000 for a transfer to New York. Carol will advise which NY theatres will be best for the show, with the final decision left to the company. $1,000 will be given to each shortlisted company for the excellence of their work.
For more information visit bestofedinburgh.org.
The Filipa Bragança Award
Filipa was only 25 when she graduated from Drama Studio London and was cast as Samira in Henry Naylor’s Echoes, a two-hander where she played a radicalised British schoolgirl. The production was a critical and commercial hit, and subsequently toured the world for over a year, with her performances helping the show collect over 10 major international fringe awards. The following year, she returned to collaborate with Naylor on Angel, and was in the midst of a second world tour when she passed away. Her last appearances were at the Brisbane Festival and Melbourne Fringe. Filipa was renowned for her generosity of spirit, her dedication to compassionate politics and as a tireless campaigner for the environment, the homeless and refugees. As well as this, she was a vocal champion of women in the arts, and in her name the Filipa Bragança Award will endeavour to honour her legacy in the performing arts.
- The inaugural winner of The Filipa Bragança Award was Selina Thompson, in the production Salt at Summerhall (2017).
- The sophomore winner of The Filipa Bragança Award was Emma Dennis-Edwards, in the production Funeral Flowers at Pleasance (2018).
- The winner in 2019 was Ameera Conrad for LIV Studios' Tales from the Garden at Assembly.
For further information relating to the award, please contact David Dey at [email protected].
Edinburgh Festival Fringe productions that are registered in the theatre genre and feature a solo performance by an emerging female artist will be eligible for consideration for the Award.
FringeReview Award
Each year we give up to three FringeReview Awards at the Edinburgh Fringe.
In 2019 we were also delighted to announce the FringeReview Rialto Theatre Award which includes space at the Rialto and support for a chosen show to perform at Brighton Fringe 2020.
We also give out impromptu awards in other parts of the world.
But we don’t give them out lightly.
Holden Street Theatres' Edinburgh Fringe Award
The Holden Street Theatres’ Edinburgh Fringe Award is an annual award program that invites a production to perform at the Holden Street Theatres in Adelaide, South Australia, as the headline show of its Adelaide Fringe program.
Holden Street is known as the ‘Home of Theatre’ in Adelaide, with a strong and loyal following of patrons and artists. We have a reputation for presenting fantastic theatrical work from around the corner and around the globe. We pride ourselves on not only looking after our artists, producers and patrons, but on presenting some of the best work at the Adelaide Fringe. Productions are shortlisted by HST’s Artistic Director Martha Lott, along with a panel of international producers, programmers and arts practitioners. With the team viewing hundreds of shows between them, the winning work is selected on artistic merit, production values, touring possibilities, venue compatibility and marketing viability. The winner is then presented at the final Scotsman Fringe First Award ceremony in the final week of the Edinburgh Fringe.
2021 winner
- East Van to Edinburgh, produced by The Cultch, Richard Jordan Productions and ZOO.
The Infallibles
The Infallibles Awards, now in their fifth year, are the brainchild of Stefania Bochicchio, UK co-director of ITIUK / Unesco, the largest world organization for performing arts, and founder and artistic director of Theatre at Draper Hall. They recognise excellence and they offer a worldwide platform.
2021 winners
- Best show
Hidden in Plain Sight (C Venues)
A solo theatrical tour-de-force by the astounding Mallika Prasad that blasts through a blistering array of stories and locations. A work of originality, heart and mind.
- Dance
Hao Cheng’s Touchdown (Summerhall – Taiwan Season)
Its narrative, precision and creative use of the camera's point of view achieved a compelling and original work that held our attention throughout.
- Creativity
Planet of the Grapes (Peter Michael Marino – Zoo Venues)
Its unwavering inventiveness perfectly embodied the triumph of creativity in the performing arts.
- Multimedia
Shamanic (Maria Rud, Fay Fife Martin Metcalfe for Made in Scotland – Pleasance)
Its marriage between live music, live painting and spoken word worked perfectly.
- Young audiences
Sex Education Xplorers (S.E.X) (by Mamoru Iriguchi, Made in Scotland – Summerhall)
A crucial, important and relentlessly entertaining show which managed to vehicle an important message and we wish for young audiences around the world to be able to see it.
- Venues
C-Arts
We admired its scope, its roster, its easy-to-use online platform.
Les Enfants Terribles' Stepladder Award
The Stepladder Award offers a company performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe industry support and tour mentoring from Les Enfants Terribles and house to help develop their experience and profile within the theatre industry. The Other Richard provide production photography, show recording and an edited trailer to support with tour booking for the winning company.
The award is for companies with an established track record of producing work either as part of a fringe festival or in a London / regional fringe theatre or in other venues. You must be committed to developing your company and practice through mounting a first full tour over the subsequent two years and the work you are presenting at Edinburgh Festival Fringe must be a new piece of original writing.
Companies are invited to apply via the online application form.
The companies are then contacted by Les Enfants Terribles directly and assessed by an industry panel.
Musical Theatre Review Best Musical Award
This award for excellence in musical theatre promotes the range of musical theatre in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme and celebrates the best of the genre. Eligible shows are presented by professional theatre companies or aspiring professional companies where a level of skill and craft is evident. The work must be considered a dramatic work using music and song to advance the plot, narrative or character. In accordance with encouraging excellence in the form, new works will be prioritised.
The Scotsman Fringe First Award
Designed to encourage performers to bring new work to Edinburgh in the spirit of adventure and experiment, the Scotsman Fringe First Awards celebrate the best new writing on the Fringe, as judged by the team of critics from Scotland’s national newspaper, the Scotsman.
The Scotsman Fringe First Awards are presented weekly throughout the Fringe.
The Scottish Theatre Awards on the Fringe
Each year, the Scottish Theatre Awards on the Fringe, supported by the Scottish Arts Club, award two prizes recognising the best in Scottish theatre.
The main prize is awarded to the best Scottish theatre production appearing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Productions with a Scottish director, writer or cast, or a Scottish-based theatre company, are eligible. Bright Spark Awards are awarded to young actors or theatre-makers just embarking on their career.
The nominations for these awards are selected by a panel of eight judges, drawn from the Scottish arts world. The prizes include cash and a certificate and the winners are presented at a formal awards ceremony held at the Scottish Arts Club.
The SIT-UP Awards
The SIT-UP Award was first launched in 2018 and is an initiative of the charity Changing Ideas.
It is given to a theatre production that affects change in audience perceptions, understanding and empathy for a social issue. We also take into account engagement with audiences by the production. This award is chosen based on audience voting.
The winner is announced at the end of the third week of the Fringe and the winner receives £5,000, of which £1,000 is cash – to use as they like – and £4,000 of support to extend the social impact of the piece after Edinburgh and widen its audience reach. The support is tailored to suit the company and issue. The winner is also offered a showcase at the Park Theatre, London.
We also give an Audience Engagement Award of £1,000 to a production which engages with its audiences in an effective or novel way.
For more information and application form vist situpawards.com.
The Stage Edinburgh Awards
The Stage Edinburgh Awards ran for the 23rd year at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The awards are designed to recognise outstanding performances on the Fringe, whether solo or as part of a company. Ensembles are also eligible. Previous winners include Jade Anouka for Chef (2014), Phoebe Waller-Bridge for Fleabag (2013) and Daniel Kitson for C-90 (2006).
Since 2014, they’ve been awarded on a rolling basis. The judging panel is headed by Natasha Tripney and The Stage makes announcements every Monday throughout the Fringe.
For the latest information about The Stage Edinburgh Awards visit thestage.co.uk.
Total Theatre Awards
Developed for the benefit of artists, the sector and audiences, the Total Theatre Awards have, over the last two decades, blazed a trail of recognition for independent artists and companies creating innovative, artist-led theatre and performance.
Resisting too narrow a definition of the term ‘total theatre’, the awards focus on artists and companies leading innovative work beyond the classical canon and new writing – working within the fields of devised theatre, live art, visual performance, mime, puppetry, physical theatre, experimental theatre, dance, clown, circus, street, immersive, outdoor, site-specific performance and more.