Chortle Student Comedy Award 2015: The rules

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This event is open to students aged 18 years or over on January 1, 2015, enrolled in full-time tertiary education in the UK. You will be required to produce some form of student ID at your heat to prove your eligibility.

Applicants must submit a completed application form online at chortle.co.uk by 17:00 on February 9, 2015. By submitting an application form, all applicants agree to abide by these rules.

Organisers may reject or disqualify any application at their discretion, and the judges' decision to which act wins each heats is final. No justification will be given, and no correspondence entered into. Unfortunately, we cannot provide individual feedback about any performance.

Winners of each heat will be invited to perform at one of two semi-finals, along with wildcard performers chosen at the judges' discretion or via a people's choice voting mechanism, the details of which will be made public at the time. Acts will be selected at the semi-finals to take part in the final at the Edinburgh Fringe.

The organisers will strive to accommodate acts in the heat of their choice, but this cannot be guaranteed. Entrants must specify three different choices of heats, or they will be disqualified.

Performances should last five minutes for the heats and seven minutes for semi-final and the final, with 30 seconds leeway either side. Acts will be given a visual indication when their time is about to expire. Contestants must use their own, original material. Acts in the final or semi-final may use the same material as they did in the heats, or a different set, without prejudice.

By appearing in the competition, you grant chortle.co.uk the right to use audio and video footage plus still photography from the heats and final, free of charge, in any form. Chortle retains the rights to use all such footage in perpetuity. We will place clips of all entrants on to video sites including, but not limited to, YouTube and Blip.tv. Clips will not be removed at any point following the competition. Entrants may use any video footage of their own performance in a not-for-profit manner, including showreel.

PLEASE TAKE SPECIAL NOTE OF THE ABOVE CONDITION. WE RECEIVE A LOT OF REQUESTS ASKING FOR CLIPS TO BE TAKEN OFFLINE SOME TIME AFTER THE COMPETITION. WE WILL NOT DO THIS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, WHETHER YOU CHOOSE TO CONTINUE A CAREER IN COMEDY OR NOT

All costs incurred by acts in participating in the competition including but not limited to any travel and accommodation, will be at the performers' own expense.

Contestants shall comply with reasonable requests for interviews and promotional appearances in connection with the event.

Heat winners will be listed at www.chortle.co.uk after each heat. The best runners-up, selected to take part in the semi-finals, will be announced shortly after the final heat. The act selected as the winner of the final will win £1,000, and the runner-up will win £250.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, contestants participate in the event entirely at their own risk and the organisers accept no liability for any injury, accident, loss of property, defamation or other claim arising from an artiste's participation in the event, except where such liability cannot be excluded at law.

Personal information submitted on the application will be used for the purposes of organising the event and related marketing and promotional activities – but not other uses, including being passed to a third party.

The organisers reserve the right to terminate or modify the event or any of its heats at any time, with no liability to any contestant. The organisers reserve the right to make amendments to these rules. Any changes will be posted on www.chortle.co.uk

The organiser is Chortle Comedy Ltd, 112 Norman Road, London E11 4RL.

Entries have opened for the Chortle student comedy award – the 11th year of the prestigious competition. Previous finalists have included the likes of Simon Bird, Chris Ramsey, Tom Rosenthal and Iain Stirling – as well as many acts now making their way on the comedy circuit. This year we’ll be hosting 13 heats around the country, kicking off at Warwick University in Coventry on February 19 – followed by two London semi-finals and a final at the Edinburgh Fringe. The competition is open to anyone in full-time education, and the top prize is £1,500. Since winning the title last year, Jamali Maddi has been signed by the Get Comedy agency and is an increasingly familiar face on the circuit. ’Since winning, life's been OK,’ he said. ‘I’ve gigged In different countries, and done some festivals – just being a comic.’ Chortle editor Steve Bennett said: ‘We have auditions as well as the heats to ensure that every entrant has the chance to be seen. That means we watch hundreds of new acts, and it’s always interesting to see promising comics at the start of their career. ‘The advice I’d give to entrants is to think very carefully about their set in advance, especially for the conversational style of comics. The stars make it look like they are just telling a chatty anecdote as if they were down the pub – but in fact every line has been carefully considered to get the best laugh.’ The competition is open to over-18s in full-time education. Entries are open from now until 5pm on February 9 – the link is below, as are the rules and full details of all the heats. Follow the progress of the competition on social media, using the links below.