Funny Women Awards Have a Record Number of Applicants

Now in their fifteenth year, the Funny Women Awards have received a record number of applicants - the Stage Award, alone, received over 400 entries. That number has now been pruned down to 70 female comedians who will compete at this month's regional final stage.

The search for the next female comedy icon (previous winners and finalists have included Katherine Ryan, Zoe Lyons, Jayde Adams, Desiree Burch, Harriet Braine, Sara Pascoe, Sarah Millican and Susan Calman) will now visit Dublin, London, Brighton and Manchester between February 10 - 28. The charity final will be held on 12 March, 2018 at The Duchess Theatre in London, and is hosted by Jan Ravens (Dead Ringers, Spitting Image).

The Regional Finals will be hosted, in the above order, by Aine Gallagher, Rosie Jones (recently seen in Silent Witness), Sarah Keyworth, Sindhu Vee (Sindhustan, BBC Radio 4), Julie Jepson and Mrs Barbara Nice (aka Janice Connolly, star of Coronation Street, That Peter Kay Thing, Phoenix Nights, Max and Paddy's Road To Nowhere).

Meanwhile, the finalists of the of the Comedy Shorts Award will have their films screened at a special event at The Vault Festival, London on March 4, hosted by Suzy Bennett and Sooz Kempner. More details below.

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 over 400 women competed in live heats for the coveted Stage Award."

"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!"

Regional Finals - dates, venues & line-ups:

Saturday 10th Feb - Chaplin's Comedy Club, Dublin 9pm @chaplinscomedy
http://funnywomen.com/event/funny-women-awards-regional-final-dublin/
http://www.chaplinscomedy.com/listings/

Host - Aine Gallagher @Ainegallagher3
10 Acts competing - one to go through to Grand Final

Aoife O'Connor @aoifebella
Ashlee Bentlee @randomlyashlee
Denny MacDermott
Emer Murphy
Erin Ferguson @Erin_Fergs
Grace Mulvey @GraceMulvey1
Joanne Heffernan @joanneheff
Julie Jay @jooleyjay
Laura Byrne @lolsybyrne
Saharcasm @saharmali

Sat 17th Feb - The Crescent, Vault Festival, London 9.15pm - @VAULTFestival
http://funnywomen.com/event/funny-women-awards-regional-final-london-1/
https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/funny-women-awards-london-regionalfinal/?spektrix_bounce=true

Host - Rosie Jones @josierones (recently appeared in Silent Witness)
9 Acts Competing - one to go through to Grand Final

Alice Marshall @alicemarshall
Fatiha El Ghorri @fatihaelghorri
Helen Bauer @helenbabauer
Jess Brown
Jodie Mitchell @JodieMitchell
Judi Love @1JudiLove
Kate Dolan @KateMJD
Siblings @siblings_comedy
Sikisa Bostwick-Barnes @twix_choc87

Thursday 22nd Feb - Hoxton Hall, London 7.30pm - @HoxtonHall
http://funnywomen.com/event/funny-women-awards-london-regional-final-2/
https://www.hoxtonhall.co.uk/funny-women-awards/#tabs3

Host - Sarah Keyworth @sarahkcomedy
14 Acts competing - one to go through to Grand Final

Anna Cliff @annacliffcomedy
Alexandra Haddow @MissAHaddow
Anne Klein @thekleinannie
Esther Manito @Esther_manito
Jenan Younis @Jenan_Younis
Jess Bray @_jessbray
Jo Fletcher-Cross @glitterjo
Kelly Convey @kellyconveycmdy
Kristina Pui @khristina_pui
Lily Philips @therubydarlings
Olga Koch @rocknrolga
Sarah Mann @SarahFMann
Shelf @shelfcomedy
Sian Clarke @sianclrke

Friday 23rd Feb - Hoxton Hall, London 7.30pm - @HoxtonHall
http://funnywomen.com/event/funny-women-awards-regional-final-london-3/
https://www.hoxtonhall.co.uk/funny-women-awards/#tabs4

Host - Sindhu Vee @sindhuvfunny
13 Acts competing - one to go through to Grand Final

Ania Magliano-Wright @aniamags
Britney @britneycomedy
Chloe Petts @Chloepetts
Daisy Earl @DailyEarl3
Isabelle Farah @irresponsabelle
Jo Frank Facebook - @jofrankcomedian
Kathryn Mather @KathMathComedy
Maddie Campion @diaryofamaddie
Maggie Kowalski @maggiekcomedy
Pauline Eyre @yespaulineeyre
Sandra Hale @hammyhale01
Thanyia Moore @ThanyiaMoore
Yumna Mohammed @yumzazzle

Saturday 24th Feb - Komedia, Brighton 8pm - @KomediaBrighton
http://funnywomen.com/event/funny-women-regional-final-south/
https://www.komedia.co.uk/brighton/comedy/funny-women-brighton-nights/

Host - Julie Jepson @thejuliejepson
12 Acts competing - one to go through to Grand Final

Adele Cliff @AdeleCliff
Amy Mason @AmyCMason
Cat Neilson @Theskreech
Cressida Wetton @CressidaWetton
Jen Ives @jenivescomedy
Katherine Atkinson @kathkinson
Louise Leigh @speshmagiclady
Maisie Adam @MaisieAdam
Melanie Drew @melaniedrewsu1
Sal Drummond @DrawAGiraffe
Simone Belshaw @simonebelshaw
Susie Steed @sussteed

Wednesday 28th Feb - Tribeca, Manchester 7.30pm - @Tribecabar1
http://funnywomen.com/event/funny-women-awards-regional-final-north/
https://www.ticketweb.uk/event/funny-women-awards-regional-final-tribeca-tickets/8047075

Host - Mrs Barbara Nice @barbaranice
12 Acts competing - one to go through to Grand Final

Cath Rice @cathrice1000
Hannah Platt @hannahtheplatt
Joanne Sarginson @joannesarginson
Lindsey Davies @lindseydavies77
Lindsey Santoro @hulseye
Louise Young @louiseremzi
Lydia Bernsmeier-Rullow - FB @Lydia Bernsmeier-Rullow Comedy
Megan Shandley @mcshands
Natalie Allison @nataliealliso
Sian Davies @morriseysquiff
Steff Todd @SteffTodd
Suzi Riddell @Lazy_Susan_

Please note: in addition to the six winners from the above Regional Finals, there will also be two 'wild card' acts to come from across these finals and go through to the Grand Final, making eight finalists in total.

This year Funny Women has a new charity partner, UN Women National Committee UK, and, inspired by UN Women's renowned HeForShe solidarity movement for gender equality, the eight 2017 Stage Award finalists will be mentored by well-known comedians, male and female. This follows 2016's successful pairing of the finalists with celebrity female comedians, including Sara Pascoe, Ellie Taylor, Jan Ravens, Zoe Lyons, Tiffany Stevenson and Shazia Mirza.

Laura Haynes, Chair, UN Women National Committee UK said: "We are delighted to confirm the Funny Women Awards as one of our signature events for HeForShe London Arts Week 2018 in support of UN Women. We know that the only way to achieve real change is to influence culture. The arts guide and reflect culture by helping people to re-think established norms and explore challenging topics in a thoughtful way. And laughter, when shared, can help to unite people. As well as making us laugh, the Funny Women Awards will be helping to open minds and encourage action."

Partners & sponsors:

The 2017 Funny Women Awards have been made possible with the support of a number of partners and sponsors including Comedy Central, Why Did the Chicken, Women in Comedy Festival, Soho Theatre, Women's Radio Station, Oliver Bonas, Starling Bank and MOO.

Funny Women Comedy Shorts
Sunday 4th March - The Crescent, VAULT Festival 3pm - 4.30pm @VAULTFestival

http://funnywomen.com/event/funny-women-comedy-shorts/
https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/funny-women-shorts-awards/?spektrix_bounce=true

Hosts - Film and tv obsessed comedians Suzy Bennett @FunnySuzyB and Sooz Kempner @SoozUK host a screening of the ten shortlisted films and announce the winner of the Funny Women Comedy Shorts Awards.

This year's incredible judging panel includes Roisin Conaty (Actress, comedian, producer and writer; star of Channel Four's Man Down and writer, producer and star of hit TV series GameFace), Rob Aslett (Director of Avalon Entertainment and TV Exec Producer), Richard Grocock (TV Comedy and Development Producer at Wicked Little Critter, Baby Cow, Phil Mcintyre) Clelia Mountford (Merman Co-founder and Executive Producer), Anna Bogutskaya (Underwire Film Festival Director) and Kate Daughton (Commissioning Editor for Comedy at BBC).

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