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Theatre awards

Find out about the awards available to theatre shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, and who won them last time.

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The Filipa Bragança Award

Filipa was only 25 when she graduated from Drama Studio London and was cast as Samira in Henry Naylor’s Echoes, a two-hander where she played a radicalised British schoolgirl. The production was a critical and commercial hit, and subsequently toured the world for over a year, with her performances helping the show collect over 10 major international fringe awards. The following year, she returned to collaborate with Naylor on Angel, and was in the midst of a second world tour when she passed away. Her last appearances were at the Brisbane Festival and Melbourne Fringe. Filipa was renowned for her generosity of spirit, her dedication to compassionate politics and as a tireless campaigner for the environment, the homeless and refugees. As well as this, she was a vocal champion of women in the arts, and in her name the Filipa Bragança Award will endeavour to honour her legacy in the performing arts.

  • The inaugural winner of The Filipa Bragança Award was Selina Thompson, in the production Salt at Summerhall (2017).
  • The sophomore winner of The Filipa Bragança Award was Emma Dennis-Edwards, in the production Funeral Flowers at Pleasance (2018).
  • The winner in 2019 was Ameera Conrad for LIV Studios' Tales from the Garden at Assembly.
  • The winner in 2022 was Chloe-Ann Tylor in Svengali (Pleasance).
  • The winner in 2023 was Eva O’Connor in Chicken (Summerhall).

For further information relating to the award, please contact programming@gildedballoon.co.uk.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe productions that are registered in the theatre genre and feature a solo performance by an emerging female, female-identifying or non-binary artist will be eligible for consideration for the award.

2024 award winner

  • Khawla Ibraheem for A Knock on the Roof (Traverse)

Holden Street Theatres' Edinburgh Fringe Award

The Holden Street Theatres’ Edinburgh Fringe Award is an annual award program that invites a production to perform at the Holden Street Theatres in Adelaide, South Australia, as the headline show of its Adelaide Fringe program.

Holden Street is known as the ‘Home of Theatre’ in Adelaide, with a strong and loyal following of patrons and artists. We have a reputation for presenting fantastic theatrical work from around the corner and around the globe. We pride ourselves on not only looking after our artists, producers and patrons, but on presenting some of the best work at the Adelaide Fringe. Productions are shortlisted by HST’s Artistic Director Martha Lott, along with a panel of international producers, programmers and arts practitioners. With the team viewing hundreds of shows between them, the winning work is selected on artistic merit, production values, touring possibilities, venue compatibility and marketing viability. The winner is then presented at the final Scotsman Fringe First Award ceremony in the final week of the Edinburgh Fringe.

2024 winners

  • Why I Stuck a Flare Up My Arse For England by Alex Hill
    Presented by Roxydog, Joshua Beaumont and Matthew Emeny
  • A Knock on the Roof by Khawla Ibraheem
    Presented by Piece by Piece Productions

The winners of the Holden Street Theatres' Edinburgh Fringe Award are selected according to a developed list of criteria, including (but not limited to) the following:

  • must demonstrate a high level of artistic merit with developed production value
  • must have strong marketing collateral and be prepared to undertake a number of marketing and publicity campaigns within the festival
  • must not have previously performed the production in Australia
  • must be available for touring in February and March 2025
  • must be able and prepared to perform a minimum of 33 performances – with a standard season up to 35 performances – throughout the 2025 Adelaide Fringe
  • must be over the age of 18 or accompanied by adult(s)
  • must understand that they may be required to supplement any further costs needed over and above the award.

For a full list of criteria please visit holdenstreettheatres.com.

Musical Theatre Review's Pick of the Fringe

This award for excellence in musical theatre promotes the range of musical theatre in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme and celebrates the best of the genre. Eligible shows are presented by professional theatre companies or aspiring professional companies where a level of skill and craft is evident. The work must be considered a dramatic work using music and song to advance the plot, narrative or character. In accordance with encouraging excellence in the form, new works will be prioritised.

2024 award winner

  • Best Musical
    A History of Paper (Traverse)

The OffFest / The Offies

The OffFest is the Offies award for shows at theatre festivals or theatre shows at general arts festivals.

To be eligible for an OffFest, there needs to be a minimum of three performances during the festival.

If your show gets two or more 4-5* reviews from accredited reviewers, send the links to these reviews to info@offwestend.com, along with an image for the show and all relevant Twitter handles, and we will then confirm an OffFest nomination for the show.

There is a separate set of OffFest awards for each festival. This means that if you get two or more 4-5* reviews at one festival and a further set of 4-5* reviews at another festival, your show may then get two separate OffFests. Please note that you cannot combine reviews from different festivals in your submission for an OffFest. The reason for this is so we can, in due course, announce finalists and a winner for each festival, chosen from all the OffFest nominations at that festival.

Winners will be announced at the Offies awards ceremony to be held in late February 2025.

2023 Edinburgh Fringe winners

  • Musicals and Circus
    Godfather Death: A Grimm’s Musical (Greenside)
  • LGBT
    52 Monologues for Young Transsexuals (Pleasance)
  • New writing
    Mark Thomas’s England & Son(Summerhall)
  • Solo performance
    SAD-VENTS (Underbelly)
  • Theatre
    Diana the Untold and Untrue Story (Pleasance)

Popcorn Writing Award

The Popcorn Writing Award champions brave and imaginative writing which playfully and artistically questions and addresses current affairs and societal trends and contributes positively to public debate.

Partnering venues include Assembly Festival, Gilded Balloon, Pleasance, Summerhall, Traverse Theatre, Underbelly.

popcorngroup.co.uk

2024 award winners

  • VL by Kieran Hurley & Gary McNair, Roundabout @ Summerhall
  • Weather Girl by Brian Watkins, Summerhall

All plays submitted will be considered provided they are:

  1. A new piece of writing which has not had a significant run before the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe. We are deeming a significant run as no more than seven performances or a play that was shown online.
  2. A play that is being shown at one of the partnering venues: Assembly, Gilded Balloon, Pleasance, The Space, Summerhall, Traverse or Underbelly.

The Scotsman Fringe First Award

Designed to encourage performers to bring new work to Edinburgh in the spirit of adventure and experiment, the Scotsman Fringe First Awards celebrate the best new writing on the Fringe, as judged by the team of critics from Scotland’s national newspaper, the Scotsman.

The Scotsman Fringe First Awards are presented weekly throughout the Fringe.

2024 award winners

Week one:

  • BATSHIT (Traverse)
  • The Border (Pleasance)
  • Cyrano (Traverse)
  • A History of Paper (Traverse)
  • June Carter Cash: The Woman, Her Music And Me (Summerhall)
  • So Young (Traverse)

Week two:

  • Comala, Comala (Zoo Southside)
  • A Letter to Lyndon B Johnson or God: Whoever Reads This First (theSpace @ Niddry Street)
  • Mairi Campbell: Living Stone (Scottish Storytelling Centre)
  • Son of a Bitch (Summerhall)
  • VL (Roundabout @ Summerhall)
  • Weather Girl (Summerhall)

Week three:

  • A Knock On The Roof (Traverse)
  • Instructions (Summerhall)
  • REVENGE: After the Levoyah (Summerhall)
  • My Mother’s Funeral: The Show (Roundabout @ Summerhall)
  • A Little Inquest Into What We Are All Doing Here (Zoo)

The show must be new and not the reworking of existing work. Adaptations of novels or other existing work / works will not be considered unless they show clear evidence of a creative transformation of the original material.

In order to qualify for consideration, the show must be listed in the theatre, dance & physical theatre, musicals & opera or the children's shows sections of the Fringe programme. Shows listed in the comedy, spoken word, events, exhibitions or music sections will not be eligible. Shows in the Fringe's cabaret section will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

It must be drama. The Scotsman Fringe First Awards have relaxed their former rules (accepting purely text-based work in the past), but abstract dance and movement remain ineligible for consideration. There must be a significant element of narrative and / or character exploration.

The show must be premiered in Edinburgh. All shows are entitled to a maximum of six previews, but the work should not have been reviewed before its run on the Fringe. This rule does not apply to performances outside the UK – however, international work which was premiered more than three years before its first performance on the Fringe will not be considered.

There is no set number of awards and you cannot enter directly.

The Scottish Theatre Awards on the Fringe

Each year, the Scottish Theatre Awards on the Fringe, supported by the Scottish Arts Club, award prizes for Scottish theatre productions and individuals appearing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Every Scottish theatre show appearing on the Fringe is reviewed – normally a list of over 100 productions.

The Leading Light prize is awarded to the best Scottish theatre production. Productions with a Scottish director, writer or cast, or a Scottish-based theatre company, are eligible.

Bright Spark prizes are awarded to Scottish actors or theatre-makers just embarking on their career.

The nominations for these awards are selected by a panel of judges drawn from the Scottish arts world. The prizes include cash and a certificate and the winners are presented at a formal awards ceremony held at the Scottish Arts Club.

2024 award winners

  • Leading Light Award
    • Winner: Love Beyond by Ramesh Meyyappan (presented by Raw Material and Vanishing Point in association with Aberdeen Performing Arts) (Assembly)
    • Runner up: A History of Paper by Dundee Rep Theatre and Traverse Theatre (Traverse Theatre)
  • Bright Spark Awards
    • Zoë Bullock for Gracie and the Start of the End of the World (Again) (Assembly)
    • Alexander Tait for Kev Campbell Was He (theSpaceUK)
    • Fraser Allan Hogg and Lorna Panton for Shotgunned (theSpaceUK)

The Sit-Up Awards

The SIT-UP Awards supports theatre productions to achieve significant social impact.

In 2024 the main winner will receive a spot at the SoHo Playhouse’s prestigious International Fringe Encore Series in January 2025 including a cash prize of £5,000 towards expenses. This includes venue, accommodation and production provision in NYC with additional support for the winner towards audience engagement.

This year, SIT-UP Awards are also making five grants of £1,000 each before the Fringe to support productions to engage with audiences during their run.

The closing date for all applications is 30 June.

For more information and application requirements please visit www.situpawards.org.

2024 award winner

  • Famehungry (Summerhall).

Previous awards

The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award considers all productions given four or five stars by the Scotsman newspaper's team of critics. The only other criterion that must be met is that productions must be new to New York. The winning company or performer is offered $25,000 for a transfer to New York. Carol will advise which NY theatres will be best for the show, with the final decision left to the company. $1,000 will be given to each shortlisted company for the excellence of their work.

For more information visit bestofedinburgh.org.

2022 award winners

  • Burn, Ottawa Little Theatre (theSpace @ Niddry St)
  • Ghosts of the Near Future, emma + pj (Summerhall)
  • Hotel Elsinore, PLANT[UNLTD] / Susanna Hamnett (theSpace on the Mile)
  • LIGHTHOUSE, Early Doors Productions (Greenside @ Infirmary Street)
  • Sandcastles, Brite Theater (Assembly Rooms)
  • Swell, Tom Foreman Productions (Underbelly, Cowgate)
  • The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much, Voloz Collective (Pleasance Dome)
  • The Mistake, Michael Mears' Essential Theatre (theSpace on North Bridge)
  • The Poetical Life of Philomena McGuinness, Moon Rabbit (Greenside @ Infirmary Street)
  • Ultimatum, Treehouse (Pleasance Courtyard)

The David Johnson Emerging Talent Award aims to celebrate the life of maverick producer David Johnson and to create a legacy in his memory.

A cash award of up to £11,000 will be presented to the show / performer / creative independent annually, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, that best reflects David’s discerning eye for new and emerging talent. David’s flair for commercial theatre was matched by and often combined with his fervent support for new and emerging artists. The award will be made in that spirit.

How it works

A team of scouts chaired by Helen Hawkins (arts and culture journalist) will recommend potential recipients during the first three weeks of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. A winner will be selected during the last week of the festival and inaugural DJ ETA presentation will take place on Sunday 28 August at 18:00 during a mixed-bill Fringe show in the Gordon Aikman Theatre in George Square.

Eligibility

A show / performer / creative independent performing at least 10 performances in Edinburgh in August on edfringe.com or on the Free Fringe.

2022 award winners

  • An Audience with Milly Liu, François Pandolfo (Pleasance Courtyard) 
  • Eve: All About Her, Keith Ramsay (Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose) 

Each year we give up to three FringeReview Awards at the Edinburgh Fringe.

In 2019 we were also delighted to announce the FringeReview Rialto Theatre Award which includes space at the Rialto and support for a chosen show to perform at Brighton Fringe 2020. 

We also give out impromptu awards in other parts of the world.

But we don’t give them out lightly.

Entry information

There’s no need to apply for an award from FringeReview.

Please don’t pitch your show for an award.

Our awards aren’t based on an application process but on a process that takes place among our review team. If a reviewer believes a show is worthy of an award, it is then re-seen by another reviewer, ideally three.

If the award is confirmed, we then contact the company.

The Infallible Awards are the brainchild of Stefania Bochicchio, UK co-director of the International Theatre Institute, part of UNESCO and the world's largest performing arts organisation.

Now in its seventh edition at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, its jury is composed of performing Arts practitioners, academica and journalists.

2022 award winners

Best Play

  • JEKYLL AND HYDE, a One Woman show by John David Henshaw for SWEET Production
    Special recommendation: Heather-Rose Andrews for her dual portrait of the main character

Best National Presence

  • Danish Showcase @EdFringe 2022
    Novel, unexpected voices and works.

Best gig-theatre show

  • Oedipus Electronica by Pecho Mama Productions
    This show managed to maintain the very high bar set by the Company's preceding production, Medea Electronica.

Please note: The LET Award is on hold in 2024 and will return in 2025.

Designed with emerging artists in mind, the LET Award was set up by theatre company Les Enfants Terribles to provide both financial and professional support to new theatre companies looking to present their work at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Ten companies will be shortlisted to perform 10 minutes of their work at a London showcase in front of an expert panel and a live audience. After the judges have deliberated, the winner will be announced on the night, receiving mentorship, venue and financial support to take their show to Edinburgh Festival Fringe later that year.

2023 winner

  • Scaredy Fat by SkelpieLimmer (Pleasance)

The Stage Edinburgh Awards ran for the 23rd year at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The awards are designed to recognise outstanding performances on the Fringe, whether solo or as part of a company. Ensembles are also eligible. Previous winners include Jade Anouka for Chef (2014), Phoebe Waller-Bridge for Fleabag (2013) and Daniel Kitson for C-90 (2006).

Since 2014, they’ve been awarded on a rolling basis. The judging panel is headed by Natasha Tripney and The Stage makes announcements every Monday throughout the Fringe. 

For the latest information about The Stage Edinburgh Awards visit thestage.co.uk.

2023 marks 26 years since the first Total Theatre Awards at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We had hoped to return to Edinburgh in 2023, but capacity and resource has been challenging. 

We are looking to return in 2024.  If you think you can help us to do so please email Jo or Becki at crowley.jo@gmail.com and haines.becki@gmail.com.