Our biggest event of the year, the Funny Women Awards Gala Final sponsored by Sky Studios, is set to take place on Thursday 29th September at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre hosted by Thanyia Moore. The Awards will also be streamed online via NextUp Comedy.
Our Awards are a unique opportunity to see the start of some amazing careers. The top 10 acts for the prestigious Stage Award were selected from over 450 entries and the finalists who will compete live on stage are Anshita Koul, Fathiya Saleh, Jessie Nixon, Julia Stenton, Kate Martin, Leah Davis, Lorna Rose Treen, Marjolein Robertson, Sharlin Jahan and Tatty Macleod.
On the night, as well as crowning the Stage Award winner, four other equally important Funny Women Awards will be presented. Each category winner receives £1000 amongst the other prizes and recognition that comes with our competition.
The winning script for the Comedy Writing Award sponsored by Sky Studios will be selected from the top three. They are Wasteland by Nicki Lucas; Magical Extinction by Ruby Carr and Beth’s Din by Ellie Silver. Chosen from over 160 scripts, Sky Studios is once again offering development support for the winner as they did last year.
The Comedy Shorts Award is supported by London Short Film Festival and the top three finalists for 2022 are Lorelei Mathias for her short film Creative Writing 2.1 ; Sarah Grant & Katrina Allen for New Mum’s New Toy and Lorna Rose Treen’s My Entertainment Badge. The winning film, to be announced at the Gala Final, will be screened as part of the upcoming London Short Film Festival. The shortlisted films for 2022 can be viewed here.
The Funny Women Industry Award supported by Comedy 50:50 and The Comedy Crowd recognises the often unseen talent behind today’s comedy landscape – the gag, sketch and additional material writers, and the producers, developers and creators who are at the forefront of television, radio and digital entertainment.
We have asked our network of industry professionals to nominate those most deserving of recognition and this year’s top three are Amy Annette, Anna Leong Brophy and Hannah George. The winner will be announced on the night. Previous winners include Sophie Duker (2021) and Christine Rose (2020), and this Award celebrates the talent and tenacity of women performers, writers and creators, who have overcome disproportionate barriers to succeed in this highly competitive field.
Last year’s Funny Women Awards were truly global with the winner of the Stage Award, Lara Ricote being a mix of Mexican, American, and Venezuelan. Lara went on to win this year’s Dave’s Edinburgh Comedy Newcomer Award, and as the returning winner she will perform a headline set at the final.
The 2022 Awards have attracted entries from Romania, UAE, Luxembourg, Estonia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Canada, Italy, Iceland, France, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, Australia, USA, Ireland, Netherlands and the UK.
Expanding the global reach of the Funny Women Awards, has been fuelled by the creation of our Content Creator Award run in partnership with heat Magazine. This Award is nominated and voted for by the public and we are looking for those original, creative and funny voices using social media platforms that might otherwise be overlooked by mainstream networks.
In 2021 Funny Women received over 82,000 public votes for the final 16 artists and this Award was won by Hayley Morris. You can meet the Top 16 Comedy Creators for 2022 here and vote for your favourite here.
We are also continuing our support of TIME’S UP UK as our charity partner: An organisation that insists on safe, fair and dignified work for everyone, run by a group of UK-based women: actors, activists, producers, writers and others from the film, TV and theatre industries as a sister initiative to TIME’S UP in the US. As an organisation we strongly believe in equal rights and opportunities for all; so we are working together in support of gender parity in the comedy industry and beyond.
With grateful thanks to BedHead by Tigi for sponsoring our After Party and to Showtime Photo Booth, the go to company for photo booth hire in London, for supplying their Retro Photo Booth at The Old Crown; and to our partner Tatty Devine for the custom made necklace trophies.
