The Stage

Edinburgh if.comeddies prize money doubles

Published Tuesday 1 August 2006 at 12:55 by Liz Thomas

Full coverage of the Edinburgh Festivals

Edinburgh Festival Fringe’s if.comeddies, formerly the Perrier Awards, will this year double the total prize money available to winners, unveil a third award and launch a grassroots development programme. The expansion follows months of consultation and feedback from the industry.

This August will see the introduction of the Panel Prize, the first new award since Best Newcomer was created in 1992 when it was won by Harry Hill. The latest accolade has no criteria attached, no shortlist and will be awarded at the panel’s discretion to the person from the comedy industry who they feel most deserves it. Awards producer Nica Burns has compared it to the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

The total prize money has been increased from £7,500 to £16,000, which means that while the winner now receives £8,000, for the first time both the Best Newcomer and Panel Prize winner will also receive £4,000 each.

Burns told The Stage: “It will be the first time that the newcomers have a cheque and in some ways often they are the ones that have done a lot worse off. Laura [Solon, last year’s main award winner] was not selling a lot of tickets before her award, so in many ways they should have the most but it gives out the wrong message. We thought that would be a fair way. I think it’s really good news that the pot doubles in value.”

As part of the scheme, Best Comedy nominees are also to be offered help taking their productions on tour and Burns has pledged a renewed focus on support and development, with further investment at grassroots level. Comedy clubs will be asked to nominate promising newcomers, who will then be offered the chance to have a professional showreel made. In addition, a number of free seminars will be held in London on topics such as how to pitch to pitch a radio or television series and how to promote and produce Edinburgh shows.

Burns adds: “To me, what I feel the comedy awards does is helping people develop their hours show. You cannot become a successful live performing stand-up unless you have all the talents to do an hour and go on to do a full two hours show. That’s the point of Edinburgh and we are there to reflect what Edinburgh is about. Edinburgh gives comedians the opportunity to take the stage for an hour, which they don’t get anywhere.”

• Jeremy Austin’s full interview with Nica Burns will be in next week’s edition of The Stage.