Two major charity initiatives – plus a longstanding comedy circuit stalwart – are in line for an outstanding achievement award this year.

Live At The Covid Arms, the Comedy Support Act benevolent fund for stand-ups in need, and comedian Kevin McCarthy are up for the accolade in the Comics’ Comic Awards of 2020.

The winners are selected by jobbing comedians, defined as anybody who makes their living or most of it from comedy.

Last year the outstanding achievement award was posthumously shared by Jeremy Hardy and Ian Cognito.

The Covid Arms initiative, spearheaded by regular host Kiri Pritchard-McLean, has raised more than £120,000 for the Trussell Trust food banks from a series of online gigs, with another being staged tomorrow here.

Comedy Support Act was set up in 2015 by comedians to help their colleague who are unable to gig due to accident or illness, with funds raised from a series of benefit gigs.

And McCarthy – also known as The Man With The Beard – has been a familiar face on the circuit since the late 1980s after getting up on stage at Malcolm Hardee’s Tunnel Club in South East London, just to win a dare.

The polls are now open, with votes from comedians accepted up to December 20.

As well as picking one of the three outstanding achievement, comics also have a free vote on best act, best MC and best independent producer.

Last year, these were won by The Raymond & Mr Timpkins Revue, Sally-Ann Hayward and Jim Howarth of Comedy Hotspot  respectively.

Andy White, promoter of the Jesterlarf Comedy Club who administers the awards, said: ‘Although this has been a year like no other and live work decimated, the comedy industry has tried its best to keep comedy alive via Zoom gigs, podcasts, drive-in-shows, street & garden gigs and venue gigs with tiny audiences.

‘So we’ve decided to run the awards this year and give a much-needed morale boost to this fantastic industry.’

The awards were started in 2013 by John Moloney as an alternative to other prizes that he felt did not recognise professional comedians who work the circuit year in, year out.

Comics should email votes to comicscomicaward@gmail.com. Previous recipients cannot win again, and a list of winners to date can be found here.