The Malcolm Hardee Awards are to return to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as The Hardees.

Awarded to honour the anarchic spirit of late comedian, venue owner and "godfather to a generation of comic talent" Malcolm Hardee, the awards were initiated in 2005 - the year of his death - and last held in 2017.

Now, British Comedy Guide has taken over running of the awards from founder and friend of Hardee, John Fleming, and will run them again from 2019 onwards, with the full cooperation and blessing of Malcolm's family.

Presenting three prizes (Comic Originality, Cunning Stunt and Act Most Likely to Make a Million Quid), the occasionally shambolic awards are presented at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.

A public award ceremony will take place at The Counting House on Friday 23rd August, beginning at midnight and running into the early hours of Saturday 24th.

Previous winners of the three titles include Reggie Watts, Robert White, Adrienne Truscott, Terry Alderton, Stewart Lee, Becky Fury, Stuart Goldsmith, Trevor Noah and Luisa Omielan.

This year's Hardees judges are Marissa Burgess, Claire Smith, Kate Copstick, Bruce Dessau, Jay Richardson; and British Comedy Guide's Ian Wolf. They are seeing a wide variety of shows across the Fringe period in order to find the very best comedy talent.

A shortlist for each prize will be announced on Wednesday 21st August. Nominations are accepted via email at hardees@comedy.co.uk