Komedia Brighton announces new comedy competition

Brighton's Komedia venue is to launch a new comedy competition.

The Komedia New Comedy Award 2020 will run up to February 2020. Entries open from 2nd September 2019, for one month.

The venue says: "The aim of the Komedia New Comedy Award is to continue to discover and support exciting new comic talent, and to offer opportunities for development."

The award is open to comedians who have been gigging regularly for less than three years and have seven minutes of their own stand-up material, plus a clip they can send in with their application.

32 semi-finalists will be selected from clips and will be invited to perform across four semi-final heats. Further details for eligibility and how to enter will be available on the Komedia website.

The competition will be run in association with Comic Boom and comedy critic Victoria Nangle. MCs and judges will include comedians Angela Barnes, Zoe Lyons, Maisie Adam, Sameena Zehra, Simon Evans, Stephen Grant, Archie Maddox and Barry Ferns as well as Mel Brown (Impressive PR), Mick Perrin (Comedy Producer/Promoter), Jamie Walker (The Argus), Bruce Dessau (Beyond The Joke), Julia Chamberlain (Comedy Promoter/Reviewer), Marina Kobler (Komedia Co-Founder), Lex Hollingworth (Komedia Venue Manager/Programmer) and more.

Jill Edwards of Comic Boom comedy club says: "I love supporting and encouraging exciting new original comic voices to work their way up the Comic Boom ranks - becoming MC's, Headliners and award winning television stars. Creating our own New Comedy Award in partnership with these titans of comedy is the next logical step for Comic Boom."

Victoria Nangle comments: "I'm really looking forward to being involved in this exciting project with these brilliant partners. Brighton is a hub of comic creativity and I can't wait to see what each heat will bring - and what the future will bring for our winner."

The Komedia New Comedy Award 2020 winner will get an award, a bottle of fizz and a spot at Comic Boom comedy club at Komedia.

The semi-finals will take place on four consecutive Tuesdays beginning 14th January 2020, with the final on 11th February 2020. Two comics from each one will be selected by the judges to go through to the Final, which will be MC'd by television regular, Brighton's own Angela Barnes. After the heats, selected semi-finalists will still have the opportunity to win a place in the Final via a "wild card" public vote.

Komedia's Marina Kobler says: "Since its beginning in 1994, Komedia has been a stepping stone venue for comedians during their comedy career. For us there is huge pride in being there at the start of someone's journey to success. I'm looking forward to working with our partners and I'm super excited for the first ever Komedia New Comedy Award to roll out and see some new faces making their mark in the comedy world."

To find out more and enter visit komedia.co.uk