The ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards have confirmed a record £16,000.01 prize fund for this year's awards while launching #IBackISH, a new initiative inviting everyone involved in the creative industries to help shape a fairer future for the arts.
In just four years, ISH has grown from a simple idea into one of the Edinburgh Fringe's leading independent comedy awards. Every penny of sponsorship goes directly into prize money, with the awards continuing to be run entirely on a voluntary basis.
This year's prize fund is:
- Best Show – £5,000
- Best Newcomer – £4,000
- Panel Prize – £5,000
- Joke of the Fringe – £1,000.01
- Award for Best Tech – £1,000
Total Prize Fund: £16,000.01
The Awards are sponsored this year by Romesh Ranganathan, Sarah Millican, James Corden, Rhod Gilbert, Elf Lyons, Takeover Radio 106.9FM and new sponsor Mark Silcox.
Comedian and actor Mark Silcox joins the Awards this year by supporting the Joke of the Fringe prize alongside returning sponsor Takeover Radio 106.9FM, helping increase the prize to £1,000.01. The award, which is based entirely on jokes delivered to live audiences at the Fringe, will offer the biggest Joke of the Fringe prize for the second year running.
Mark Silcox said: "I'm proud to associate myself with the Joke of the Fringe prize, as a recognised expert in crafting jokes."
The announcement follows Awards Founder Nathan Cassidy's recent British Comedy Guide article setting out the wider vision behind ISH and the response it generated across the comedy community.
While ISH began as the ISH (Insert Sponsor Here) Edinburgh Comedy Awards, the initiative is increasingly embracing a broader meaning: Industry Standard for Health - a commitment to helping create a healthier creative sector where success is determined by talent, originality and opportunity. The launch of #IBackISH marks the next stage in that journey.
Rather than asking people simply to support the awards, the initiative invites everyone connected with the creative industries to ask one question:
"What does #IBackISH mean to me?"
For some, that might mean offering fairer financial splits to artists. For others, it could mean reviewing a wider range of shows, championing emerging talent, mentoring new artists, improving accessibility, taking chances on unknown performers or supporting great work wherever it is found.
The aim is not to prescribe one solution, but to encourage thousands of individual actions that together help create a healthier, fairer and more meritocratic creative sector.
Throughout this year's Fringe, Nathan Cassidy and Producer Sarah Bowles will be distributing free #IBackISH stickers, inviting performers, venues, producers, promoters, reviewers, audiences and anyone working in the arts to display them and share what #IBackISH means to them.
Anyone wishing to take part can find out more at:
https://www.edinburghcomedyawards.com/ish.html
Nathan Cassidy, founder of the ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards, said: "Four years ago ISH was simply an idea. Today it feels like a movement. I'm incredibly grateful to everyone who has supported this year's awards. Their generosity has enabled us to create our biggest-ever prize fund, with every penny going directly to rewarding artists. But #IBackISH is something different. It's an invitation to everyone connected with the creative industries to think about the role they can play in making them healthier and fairer. A venue might look at improving financial splits. A reviewer might decide to cover a show that doesn't have a PR. A producer might discover and champion someone outside the usual networks. Someone else will have a completely different idea. None of us can change the industry alone, but all of us can do something. That's what #IBackISH is about."
Sarah Bowles, ISH Awards Producer said: "The sticker isn't about saying you've got all the answers. It's about saying you want to be part of the conversation. Everyone has the opportunity to make this industry a little fairer in their own way. We'd love people to take a sticker, display it proudly and tell us what #IBackISH means to them. If enough people do that, those individual actions become a movement."
Returning for a second consecutive year, Ashfield's Takeover Radio 106.9FM is also funding the live music at the ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards ceremony and the band fronted by Hajar Woodland, who will once again open the ceremony at 11.30pm on Friday 28 August at The Counting House.
The wider ISH movement has already received public backing from across the comedy industry. Alongside The Stand Comedy Club, organisations including Hoots and Free Festival, and comedians including Ali Woods and Patrick Monahan have publicly supported the vision behind ISH.
As The Stand Comedy Club has said: "The ISH Awards are a vital part of the Fringe."
The ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards continue to be run entirely on a voluntary basis, with every sponsorship contribution allocated directly to prize money for artists.
