Now in their fifteenth year, the Funny Women Awards have announced the finalists for the Stage Award, joining those already announced for the Comedy Writing Award and Comedy Shorts Award for which you can view the entries here.
The awards received a record number of registrations this year – the Stage Award, alone, received over 400 entries and in total nearly 1,000 registrations and nominations for acts and shows were considered.
Previous Stage Award winners and finalists have included Katherine Ryan, Zoe Lyons, Jayde Adams, Desiree Burch, Harriet Braine, Sara Pascoe, Sarah Millican and Susan Calman.
In advance of the charity final on March 12 at The Duchess Theatre in London, hosted by Jan Ravens (Dead Ringers, Spitting Image), Funny Women have announced five celebrity mentors who will help the 10 Stage Award finalists hone their acts in the run up to the event. The mentors are: Gemma Whelan (Game of Thrones), Sindhu Vee (As Yet Untitled), Phil Nichol (Never Mind The Buzzcocks), Patrick Monahan (Celebrity Squares, The One Show Edinburgh Festival) and Arnab Chanda (Russell Howard’s Good News, Hunderby), The mix of male and female comedians was decided upon to reflect the HeForShe solidarity movement pioneered by the awards’ charity sponsor, UN Women National Committee UK.
Funny Women founder, Lynne Parker said: “We have received a record number of entries this year across all four categories (Stage Award, Comedy Shorts, Comedy Writing Award and Best Show Award) and I personally saw over 400 women compete in live heats for the coveted Stage Award all over the UK.”
“Women have such 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. I am excited to see who comes next!”
