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JUDGING
THE AWARD
The
Perrier Comedy Award is the UK's premier comedy award, now in
its 25th year. It is given for the most outstanding up-and-coming
stand-up comedy/ comedy cabaret at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The prize is £7,500 cash plus headlining The Perrier Comedy Award
Shows in London's West End with the Perrier Comedy Award Shortlist.
PERRIER
COMEDY AWARD ELIGIBILITY RULES 2005
1. The
show must have opened by Sunday 21st August 2005 and have at least
five public performances between Sunday
21st August and Friday
26th August 2005.
2.
The show must be original cabaret, comedy, revue in sketch form
or stand-up.
Comedy plays are not eligible. Comedy music acts are eligible, but
must be performing substantially their own material, not just cover
numbers. Where individual acts combine into a single show, it will
be judged on overall merit, not on an individual basis. Established
acts should have substantially new material since the Edinburgh
Festival Fringe 2004.
3. Acts considered to have 'star' status are not eligible.
For the purposes of this Award a 'star' is defined as any act who
has starred in a television comedy or light entertainment series
broadcast on a terrestrial channel or regularly fills a 500-plus
seat venue on their own name. For the avoidance of doubt one-off
or 'guest' appearances in a television comedy or light entertainment
series do not disqualify an act.
4.
The show must have a playing time of at least 50 minutes.
5. Previous winners of this Award are not eligible.
6. The act must be available and agree to perform at the Perrier
Comedy Award Shows in London as this forms part of the prize.
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HOW
THE AWARD IS JUDGED
1.
All shows listed in the 'comedy' section of the Edinburgh Festival
Fringe brochure are automatically checked for eligibility. Shows
need to be playing the dates as outlined above in order for the
shows to be judged. If you think you are eligible, but are not
in this category, please ring the Perrier Comedy Award office.
2.
All shows eligible are seen by the judging panel, who start covering
shows from the first day of the festival. The ten strong panel consists
of media professionals and members of the public.
3.The
Shortlist is announced on Wednesday 24th August, all the panel then
see all the shows again and the winner is selected and announced
at midnight on Saturday, 27th August.
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PERRIER
BEST NEWCOMER
This
Award is for the performer/act who are performing their first full-length
show (50 minutes or more) at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The
Shortlist and winner will be announced on Saturday 27th August 2005.
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JUDGING
PANEL AND AWARD DIRECTOR DECISIONS
All
decisions of the judging panel and/or the Award Director regarding
the Perrier Award for Comedy and the Perrier Best Newcomer, in respect
of eligibility or any other matter are final and conclusive for
all purposes.
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THE
JUDGING PANEL
The
2005 panel is:
JOHN
PIDGEON Chairman, Head of BBC Radio Entertainment
STEPHEN ARMSTRONG Comedy Critic, The Sunday Times
VANESSA HAYNES Head of Comedy Development, Celador
EMMA KING Time Out Winner – London
RUBY KURAISHE Editor, Factual Entertainment, Channel Four
PAUL MAGUIRE The Times Winner – Regions
SARAH MAHONEY Head of Programming & Development, Paramount
Comedy.
SARAH NIBLOCK edfringe.com Winner – Scotland
IAN SHUTTLEWORTH Comedy & Theatre Critic, Financial Times
GRAHAM SMITH Commissioning Editor, Comedy, Five
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HOW
THE JUDGING WORKS DAY BY DAY
A
judging Panel of 10 is selected by Nica Burns, Director of the Perrier
Comedy Awards since 1984. It consists of 7 professionals - comedy
and theatre critics, TV and radio comedy producers - and 3 members
of the public. They are comedy enthusiasts and regular paying audience
members at comedy performances and apply to be on the panel through
competitions in Time Out in London and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
website, www.edfringe.com
A
master list of shows to cover is drawn up when the Fringe programme
is printed. The Award Office goes through all the shows listed in
the Index under the categories of 'Comedy'. Each entry is checked
to ensure that it complies with the rules, e.g. that it is not a
comedy play, that it is original and that it is playing in the dates
specified.
The
Perrier panel starts covering shows from the first day of the Festival.
The Award Office ensures that every show on the list is seen. If
a panellist finds any merit in the show he or she has seen, the
Award Office then sends more panellists to see it. As the week progresses,
the wheat is sorted from the chaff in this way. The Award Office
organises the panel members schedules and keeps a record of who
has seen which show as the list is ticked off. If a panel member
has noticed an omission from the list, or if a show has been inaccurately
described and may be eligible, then it is covered just in case.
If a group contacts the Award Office to be asked to be seen, it
is also checked out.
On the Sunday at the start of the third week, the Panel meets to
discuss the shows it has seen so far, and to check through the list
of shows to be seen. Every single show is discussed and a group
of top shows emerges. The panel then continue to see shows still
opening and the top shows they have not seen.
On the Wednesday morning of the third week, the Panel meets to decide
on the shortlist. The remaining shows are debated again, until they
are honed down to a shortlist of no more than 5. Every single member
of the Panel then has to see all the shortlisted shows again between
Wednesday evening and Saturday night.
On the Saturday night of week 3, the Panel has its final meeting
and decides on the winner after discussing all the shortlisted shows
in great detail. The final vote is a written secret ballot, which
is over seen by Paul Gudgin, Director of the Edinburgh Festival
Fringe Society. The winner is then announced at midnight.
The eligibility rules are distributed to all Edinburgh Festival
Fringe Venue Managers and further copies are available from the
Perrier Comedy Award office or the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society.
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JUDGING
PANEL MEETINGS 2005
Sunday
21st August 2005
11.00am
1. Introductions
2. Discussion on principles of Award
3. Recap of rules
4. First assessment and elimination of shows seen
5. Second assessment and elimination of shows seen
6. Open discussion
7. Confirmation of panellists timetable for next 3 days
Wednesday
24th August 2005
9.00am
1. Third assessment and elimination of shows seen
2. Fourth assessment and elimination of shows seen
3. Fifth assessment and elimination of shows seen
4. Decision of shortlist
5. Confirmation of panellists timetable for next 3 days
Each member of the panel must then see every show on the Shortlist
before the final meeting.
Saturday 27th August 2005
5.30pm
Final
Panel Meeting – Vote
Meeting to be followed by dinner
11.00pm
Award reception followed by announcement of winner at
midnight.
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