Finalists Announced For Funny Women Stage Award 2020

The leading showcase for female comedy talent in the UK and Ireland, the Funny Women Awards, has arrived at the final phase in its annual search for brilliant new performers, writers and creators.

2020 has been extremely challenging for the live comedy industry and this year's competition, which launched on 1st April during lockdown, has been run virtually until this final stage.

'The Funny Women Awards are an important and vital annual celebration of female comedy talent, so we decided to go ahead despite the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic by taking our activity online.' says Lynne Parker, Funny Women founder and CEO. 'Women make a huge and valuable cultural contribution to the comedy industry and this year's cohort of new talent is no exception.'

Now in their 17th year, past winners and finalists of the Funny Women Awards have gone on to become household names. These include Katherine Ryan, Zoe Lyons, Jayde Adams, Desiree Burch, Sara Pascoe, Sarah Millican, Susan Calman, Rachel Parris, Bridget Christie, Kerry Godliman, Diane Morgan and Roisin Conaty. Laura Smyth won the Stage Award in 2019.

Eight finalists out of 320 entrants to this year's Stage Award have been selected following 10 virtual heats and two live online semi-finals.

The finalists are:

Izzy Askwith, Naomi Cooper, Katie Green, Ania Magliano, Mary O'Connell, Fiona Ridgewell, Christina O'Sullivan, Eryn Tett.

More information below and on this link: https://funnywomen.com/2020/09/04/announcing-the-2020-funny-women-stage-awards-finalists/

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this year's Grand Final is not a public event but a streamed live show where the acts compete for the Stage Award. This will take place at the world-famous Comedy Store in London on Tuesday, 22nd September from 7.30pm to 9.30pm and streamed live to ticket holders. This is the venue's first gig since lockdown and provides a fitting and historic stage for the eight talented acts to perform live.

The Final will be hosted by Jayde Adams, who won the Stage Award in the 2014 Funny Women Awards, and is now a multi award winner and regular television presence. Her Edinburgh Fringe show Serious Black Jumper was filmed and released on Amazon Prime to critical acclaim.

Funny Women Awards Director Becky Singh says of this year's competition:

"The Funny Women Team have been really impressed with this year's entrants. The standard was very high and in the face of challenges, the level of dedication and willingness to embrace the new platforms, especially from our semi-finalists, has been truly inspiring."

Winners of the Comedy Shorts Award, Comedy Writing Award and Best Web Series will be announced at a separate online event along with the winner of a new industry-led Best Comedy Writer Award, run in partnership with Comedy 50:50.