Pete Teckman has been crowned Silver Stand Up of the Year 2017, seeing off fierce competition from up and coming comedians aged between 55 and 81 at the final in Leicester.

The contestants each performed their five-minute sets in front of the crowd and the judging panel; BBC radio presenter Monica Winfield, Martyn Allison from Big Difference Company and Louise Grainger from Equity union.

Laughing Horse New Act of the Year finalist Teckman has progressed through gong shows and open mic nights through to more established comedy nights, and performed his first full show Never Too Late at Leicester Comedy Festival 2016. On winning the competition at the Leicester Comedy Festival 2017, he said: “There were acts who entered with different levels of experience all having a go and it's just really nice that there's something there for older acts to to have a go at. I think it's a great competition." 

Previous winners of the Silver Stand Up are Shelley Bridgman (2012) who continues to gig regularly across the UK and was a founder member of the Trans Comedy Award, working with BBC writers to develop scripts that portray funny and positive representations of the trans community. The winning script, Boy Meets Girl, aired on BBC Two in 2015. The 2013 winner, Marc Lucero, regularly gigs across London, and the 2014 competition was won by Peter Callaghan, a member of the comedy collective Old Folks Telling Jokes, which performs around the country.

In 2015 the competition was won by Ed de Cantor.  Ed had given up performing stand up aged 40, thinking he was "too old".  On winning the competition in 2015, he said "I am completely over the moon. Winning this competition is a dream come true." The 2016 winner was Marguerite Grant, a Missouri native now based in Cambridgeshire, who performed in-character as a housewife and inventor.

Leicester Comedy Festival 2017 runs until 26th February. The programme is available at www.comedy-festival.co.uk

For the full list of shortlisted Silver Stand Up 2017 comedians click here.