ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards

The ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards are presented to the comedy shows deemed to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Established in 2023, awards are given to Best Show, Best Newcomer and a Panel Prize and are judged by a panel of judges on a voluntary basis who see all eligible comedy shows.

Format
The Best Comedy Show is awarded to the comedy show that the Judges and/or the audience think is the funniest.

The Best Newcomer Award is given to the best show, the one the Judges and/or the audience think is the funniest from an act doing their first full-length (45 mins and over) show at the Edinburgh Fringe.

The Panel Prize is awarded by the Judges to any individual or group that is deemed to have done something 'amazing' at the Fringe.

History
Originally the ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards were created to plug a gap when the Edinburgh Comedy Awards lost their sponsorship deal with Dave. When these Awards got a new sponsorship deal in 2023, the ISH Awards went ahead as planned.

In 2023, there were joint winners for Best Comedy Show and Best Newcomer. Paul Foot and Julia Masli jointly won Best show, and Dan Tiernan and Fiona Ridgewell jointly won Best Newcomer. The Panel Prize was awarded to Mark Simmons and Danny Ward for 'A Show for Gareth', a compilation show set up to raise money for the family of fellow comedian Gareth Richards.

Sponsorship
In 2024, the ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards secured a sponsor Jones Bootmaker initially with an investment of £15,000 to cover the three prizes of £5,000 each for Best Show, Best Newcomer and Panel Prize. It was also announced at the May 2024 Press Launch that the winners would each receive a year's supply of Jones Bootmaker shoes. 100% of the sponsorship goes to the prizes as the awards are run on a voluntary basis.

Prizes
Paul Foot commented on BBC News on the day of the 2023 Awards Ceremony that he 'didn't get any money at all', referring to half the £10 prize as the Award had joint winners. Paul Foot said 'I was at the Awards ceremony and no one gave me any money, and I just thought it didn't seem like the right thing to say 'Excuse me can you give me five quid please'.

Long Lists and Short Lists
In 2023, a list of shows were made halfway through the Fringe for the Long List and these were whittled down to shows on the Short List. For Best Show these were Ed Byrne, Ian Smith, Janine Harouni, Julia Masli, Luke Kempner, Marjolein Robertson, Paul Currie, Paul Foot, Phil Ellis, Seymour Mace and Sid Singh. For Best Newcomer these were Dan Tiernan, Fiona Ridgewell, Kelly McCaughan, Lachlan Werner, and Lorna Rose Treen.

2023 Ceremony
In 2023, the ceremony was presented by Patrick Monahan and covered by BBC News. Presenters at the awards included Awards Producer Sarah Bowles, and comedians Ed Byrne and Nathan Cassidy. It was revealed at the ceremony that Nathan was behind the inception of the Awards. Nathan said at the ceremony he was proud of the Awards as 'it was a community coming together for something good and different - comedians, producers, critics on the panel being supportive of artists.'

Industry Recogniton
In 2023, Awards Producer Sarah Bowles was awarded the Funny Women Industry Award 2023 for her work on the ISH Awards. Sarah said 'We wanted to being some positivity to the Edinburgh Fringe to help boost comedians who have struggled since Covid. We have been overwhelmed with the support we have received and recognition would only make it easier to increase the benefits to all those who work so hard in the industry.'