Funny Women Awards 2019 open for entries

Funny Women Awards

The Funny Women Awards have launching their annual search for the next household names.

The awards cover performance, writing and filmmaking.

Now in their 16th year, previous winners and finalists of the performance-based Funny Women Awards include Katherine Ryan, Zoe Lyons, Jayde Adams, Desiree Burch, Harriet Braine, Sara Pascoe, Sarah Millican, Susan Calman, Rachel Parris, Bridget Christie, Kerry Godliman and Roisin Conaty, with Thanyia Moore as the current title holder.

The organisers confirm: "Once again Funny Women will look to empower women in comedy across performance (Stage Award), writing (Writing Award) and filmmaking (Comedy Shorts Award). There is also an award for Best Show based on nominations from the public."

Sky

In an exciting development, Sky is now supporting the Stage Award. Morwenna Gordon, commissioning editor at Sky Comedy, says: "We're delighted to be supporting the brilliant and important work that Funny Women does by partnering this year's Stage Award. With an impressive alumni of previous winners, we look forward to working with Funny Women and finding the new rising stars of the comedy world."

This year, to enter the performance awards acts should upload a 5 minute video. Funny Women founder Lynne Parker explains: "After a little break to rework and attract new partners to ensure the future of the Awards, we are back with a new format that opens up the competition to even more women than before. Video submission makes entry to the Stage Award more accessible, and each of our live heats will be a showcase of the best new talent around.

"Women already have a strong and important voice in the comedy industry and so many of today's big names have taken part in the Awards at the beginning of their careers. This year will be no exception when it comes to trailblazing talent."

The Stage Award deadline is 30th April, with heats then taking place across May and June.

The Comedy Writing Award and Comedy Shorts Award deadline is 31st July.

The writing award involves sending in a 1-2 page treatment, and 3 sample scenes of a comedy script for television or radio.

The Comedy Shorts Award is for sketches and short films that run between 1 and 6 minutes.

To find out more about the awards criteria and for the online entry forms, visit funnywomenawards.com

Published: Monday 8th April 2019
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