Edinburgh Comedy Awards 'are here to stay'

Director's vow after Fringe accolades were almost cancelled this year

The Edinburgh Comedy Awards will return next year – and ‘as long as the Fringe continues’, its director Nica Burns has said.

Two months ago it appeared that the most prestigious awards in live comedy may not be at the festival this year as organisers struggled to find sponsors to cover the £200,000 they cost to stage.

But a last-minute deal with three new backers secured the awards for 2023, and at a launch event in the Scottish capital today, Burns said: ‘Looking forward, the headline news is that plans are now in place to secure the future of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards for the long term.

‘We will definitely be back next year and for as long as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe continues. We are here to stay’

She gave her speech in front of figures from across the comedy industry, including Fringe Society president Phoebe Waller-Bridge and chief executive Shona McCarthy.

She said: ‘What a wonderful, warm welcome after such a nail-biting time. What a rollercoaster the last two months have been.

‘For 40 years, the awards have been very successful in finding big title sponsors. Even then, I sponsored them personally for two years because I couldn’t find the right sponsor. We are now in a world where Covid has wrecked the economic climate for all of us and drastically changed the landscape for big title sponsorships in the arts.

‘I realised those days are over, and we had to rethink our approach to funding the awards - and now we see the result: in just five weeks, three passionate comedy heroes stepped forward to join me in saving the awards, and to a collective sigh of relief on July 7 we were able to announce that the 2023 awards were going ahead. It’s business as usual.

‘Our new partners are all from the comedy community: they work, live and breathe comedy. They understand the opportunities that this wonderful festival gives comics and the work the awards do within it to spotlight comedians and comedy as a genre and serious art form.’

This year’s backers are broadcaster Sky, TV production company DLT Entertainment and the Victoria Wood Foundation, as well as Burns herself

She added: ‘I’ve always said that we would continue to run the comedy awards as long as the talent and the industry wanted them, and we’ve now had a resounding, "Yes, we do".’

Following her speech, Nica Burns also paid tribute to members of the comedy community who we have lost this year, including Adam Brace, Kit Hesketh-Harvey, Barry Humphries, Robbie Jack, George Logan, Paul O’Grady, Gareth Richards and Andy Smart.

Last week week, the judging panel was revealed.

This year’s categories are: