Run at the Leicester Comedy Festival in February

1995: Stevie Knuckles

1996: Jo Enright
Finalists include: Gary O’Donnell, Colin the Fireman, Marcus Cockrell, Bob May

1997: Johnny Vegas
Finalists include: Natalie Haynes, Kevin Kopfstein, Leslie Gibson

1998: Mitch Benn
Finalists: TJ Murphy, Mark James, Mary Bourke, Pete Benett, Johnny Kinch, Reginald D Hunter, Jack Mann, Darrell Martin

1999: Patrick Kitterick
Finalists: Dominic Frisby, Meryl O’Rourke, Kevin Clarke, David Keay, Michael Tombs, Darrell Martin, Mark Barrett, Jack Mann, Mark James, Kat Nilsson

2000: Jason Manford
Finalists include: Jason John Whitehead, Silky, Sean O’Reilly, Barry Glendenning, Eddie Kaulkner

2001: Miles Jupp
Finalists include: Jimmy Carr, John Ryan

2002: Matt Blaize
Finalists: Bill Wooland, Quincy, Rob Mager, Karen Bayley, Nick Gray, Kevin Dewsbury

2003: Rhod Gilbert
Finalists: Claire Pollard, Greg Davies, Simon Amstell, Greg Cook, Donna Spence, Greg McHugh, Marek Larwood

2004: Matt Hollins
Finalists:  Russell Kane, Matt and Faron, Brandi Borr, Anna Keirle, Chris Roche, Mel Barnes, Matt Dyktynski

2005: Debra-Jane Appelby
Finalists: David Longley, Peter Aterman, Lee Bannard, Lee Brace, Quentin Reynolds, Sam Avery

2006: James Branch
Finalists include: Emma Fryer

2007: Carl Donnelly
Finalists: Sean Moran, Matt Rudge, Johnny Sorrow, Jason Kavan, Jim Smallman, Paul Smith

2008: Henry Paker
Finalists: Jack Whitehall, Andi Osho, Gareth Richards, Helen Keen, Luke Benson, Sam Harlan, Tony Simpson

2009: Seann Walsh
Finalists: Fergus Craig, Grainne Maguire,Joe Bor, Chris Stokes, Carl Hutchinson, Chris Ramsey, Tom Adams

2010: Josh Widdicombe
Finalists: Ivo Graham, Tom McDonnell, Jake Mills, Rob Beckett, Dan Bland, Ben Davids, Ade Ikoli

2011: Tom Rosenthal & Ben Target (joint winners)
Finalists: Inel Tomlinson, Suzi Ruffell, Luke Benson, Henry Widdicombe, Michael J Dolan, Pete Walsh

2012: Matt Rees
Finalists: Chris Turner, Darren Connell, Danny Sutcliffe, Richard Hanrahan, Joe Wells, Liam Williams

2013: Romesh Ranganathan
Finalists: Lucy Beaumount, Adam Hess, Jamie Demetriou, Danny Ward, Tez Ilyas, Mark Simmons, Kwame Asante

2014: Kate Lucas
Finalists: Dane Baptiste, Dave Green, Elliot Steel, Harriet Kemsley, Mark Silcox, Phil Jerrod and Daisy Earl

2015:  Tom Little
Finalists: Stephanie Laing, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Ingrid Dahle, Emma Kearney aka Penella Mellor, David Jordan, Jake Lambert, Lolly Adepfope

2016: Tom Lucy
Finalists: George Lewis, Rob Mulholland, Yuriko Kotani, Ed Patrick, Nigel Ng, Twayna Mayne, Travis Jay

2017:  Alasdair Beckett-King
Finalists: Alex Mahoney, Ed Night, George Rigden, Kelly Convey, Sindhu Vee, Tom Mayhew, Tom Houghton

2018: Jack Gleadow 
Finalists: Simon Lomas, Radu Isac, Martin Wratten, Helen Bauer, Catherine Bohart, Rosie Jones, Patrick Spice

2019: Daniel Sofoluke 
Finalists:  Kathryn Mather, 
Jen Ives, 
Riordan DJ
, Jeremy Flynn
, Simon Wozniak
, Jamie Hutchinson, 
Krystal Evans

2020: Eric Rushton 
Finalists: Matt Bragg, 
Louise Young
, Dinesh Nathan
, Good Kids
, Omar Abid
, Mustafa Fecto
, Nina Giligan

2021
Finalists: Arielle Souma, Christian Jegard, Dan Tiernan, Hassan Dervish, Jessie Nixon, Joseph Emslie, Liz Guterbock and Nina Gilligan 

Published: 28 Aug 2013