If.comeddies announce another award

The replacement for the Perrier awards will this year hand out a third prize to celebrate the show that ‘best captures the comedy spirit of the Edinburgh Fringe’.

The if.comeddies Panel Prize joins the awards for best comedy and best newcomer in a revamp that also sees a doubling of the prize pot and a programme of events to aid grassroots comedy.

Inspired by the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the new Panel Award will   be awarded solely at the discretion of the judges, with no shortlist announced.

A spokesman said: ‘It will be unexpected, undreamed-of and could encompass anything from a reinvented veteran or an extraordinary comedy stunt. Whatever it is, the Fringe will have been buzzing about it.’

Ever since West End impresario Nica Burns, who has run the awards since they began in 1981, hinted that a new prize was on the cards, speculation has been that the new award would be for a visiting act, or for sketch and character comedy - however the Panel Award will have no such restricions on who can win.

As part of the changes to the awards, prompted by sponsors Perrier pulling out after 25 years to be replaced by internet bank Intelligent Finance, the total prize pot will rise from £7,500 last year to £16,000 this year. The best show will win £8,000  best newcomer and the Panel Prize winner will each receive £4,000.

Burns said: ‘Last year I promised that, after 25 years, it was time to take stock, review the awards, consult with the industry and look forward to the next 25 years. I have had a fantastic response from the comedy industry, and the changes are the result of that feedback.’

The shortlists will be unveiled on Wednesday August 23, and winners will be announced at midnight on Saturday August 26.

The new grassroots programme being funded by the awards includes a series of free seminars for comics on how to pitch a TV/radio show, playwriting and producing a comedy show in Edinburgh. And it will offer young comics will be offered the chance to have a professional showreel made, a tool many cannot afford, in a scheme promoted through Chortle and comedy clubs.

Burns added: ‘There is nowhere like the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to discover talent or to be discovered.  I had my first break performing at the Celtic Lodge in 1982 and I know only too well how many doors the Festival can open.  We are looking forward to opening doors to a new generation of talent.’

This year’s if.comedies awards judges are Sunday Times comedy critic  Stephen Armstrong, who chairs the panel, Times comedy reviewer, Dominic Maxwell, Rory Weller from Metro newspaper, Paramount Comedy Channel’s Sarah Mahoney, BBC Radio producer Victoria Lloyd, Leciester Comedy Festival director Geoff Rowe and public representatives Helen Heggie, Matthew Swynnerthon and Samantha Terry.

Published: 1 Aug 2006