People's Choice and wildcard places announced

Aaron McCann, a first year public relations student from the University of Ulster, has won the People's Choice place in the semi-final of this Chortle Student Comedy Awards.

The 19-year-old polled most votes of all competitors in the prestigious awards, presented with Alcatel ONETOUCH and Universal Pictures (UK). In total, almost 4,000 votes were cast.

Judges have today also announced the eight acts going through as wildcards. They are

• Miles Coleman (Bristol heat): A 21-year-old Spanish and Portuguese student at Bristol

• Darryl Edge (South Wales): A 22-year-old studying comedy writing and performance at Southampton Solent

• Stephen Ryan (Dublin): A 28-year-old studying for a PhD in history at the University of Limerick.

• Luke McGibbon (Belfast): A 23-year-old on a foundation degree in counselling at Northern Regional College

• Elie Kraft (Southampton): An 18-year-old Leeds University philosophy student

• Mark Gandey (Southampton): Another 22-year-old studying comedy writing and performance at Southampton Solent

• Red Redmond (Manchester): A 23-year-old studying scriptwriting at Salford

• Joshua Walker (Manchester): A 20-year-old economics and politics student at Lancaster

They join the heat winners listed below at the two semi-finals at the Boat Show on the Tattershall Castle in Central London on May 21 and 22.

Tickets are available here for the 21st and here for the 22nd, priced £6 (£5 concs). Or see both shows for £8 here.

The final takes place on August 17 at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Heat winners:

BRISTOL:George Erlanger
LEAMINGTON SPA: Elf Lyons
GLAMORGAN: Mike Reed
NEWCASTLE: Tom Keefe
DUBLIN: Martin Angolo
GLASGOW:Jack Gillespie
CHELMSFORD: Alex Oliver
CANTERBURY: Pierre Pierre
BELFAST: Alan Irwin
SOUTHAMPTON: Joe Hart
GOLDSMITHS: Cio Dav
MANCHESTER: Monty Burns and Aston Maddix
UCL: James Ball

Published: 7 Apr 2014