These awards are open to theatre shows – please see the details of each award for entry specifics and sub-genres.
The Filipa Bragança Award
Filipa was only 25 when she graduated from Drama Studio London and was cast as Samira in Henry Naylor’s Echoes, a two-hander where she played a radicalised British schoolgirl. The production was a critical and commercial hit, and subsequently toured the world for over a year, with her performances helping the show collect over 10 major international fringe awards. The following year, she returned to collaborate with Naylor on Angel, and was in the midst of a second world tour when she passed away. Her last appearances were at the Brisbane Festival and Melbourne Fringe. Filipa was renowned for her generosity of spirit, her dedication to compassionate politics and as a tireless campaigner for the environment, the homeless and refugees. As well as this, she was a vocal champion of women in the arts, and in her name the Filipa Bragança Award will endeavour to honour her legacy in the performing arts.
- The inaugural winner of The Filipa Bragança Award was Selina Thompson, in the production Salt at Summerhall (2017).
- The sophomore winner of The Filipa Bragança Award was Emma Dennis-Edwards, in the production Funeral Flowers at Pleasance (2018).
- The winner in 2019 was Ameera Conrad for LIV Studios' Tales from the Garden at Assembly.
- The winner in 2022 was Chloe-Ann Tylor in Svengali (Pleasance).
- The winner in 2023 was Eva O’Connor in Chicken (Summerhall).
For further information relating to the award, please contact [email protected].
Edinburgh Festival Fringe productions that are registered in the theatre genre and feature a solo performance by an emerging female, female-identifying or non-binary artist will be eligible for consideration for the award.
2024 award winner
- Khawla Ibraheem for A Knock on the Roof (Traverse)
Holden Street Theatres' Edinburgh Fringe Award
The Holden Street Theatres’ Edinburgh Fringe Award is an annual award program that invites a production to perform at the Holden Street Theatres in Adelaide, South Australia, as the headline show of its Adelaide Fringe program.
Holden Street is known as the ‘Home of Theatre’ in Adelaide, with a strong and loyal following of patrons and artists. We have a reputation for presenting fantastic theatrical work from around the corner and around the globe. We pride ourselves on not only looking after our artists, producers and patrons, but on presenting some of the best work at the Adelaide Fringe. Productions are shortlisted by HST’s Artistic Director Martha Lott, along with a panel of international producers, programmers and arts practitioners. With the team viewing hundreds of shows between them, the winning work is selected on artistic merit, production values, touring possibilities, venue compatibility and marketing viability. The winner is then presented at the final Scotsman Fringe First Award ceremony in the final week of the Edinburgh Fringe.
2024 winners
- Why I Stuck a Flare Up My Arse For England by Alex Hill
Presented by Roxydog, Joshua Beaumont and Matthew Emeny
- A Knock on the Roof by Khawla Ibraheem
Presented by Piece by Piece Productions
Musical Theatre Review's Pick of the Fringe
This award for excellence in musical theatre promotes the range of musical theatre in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme and celebrates the best of the genre. Eligible shows are presented by professional theatre companies or aspiring professional companies where a level of skill and craft is evident. The work must be considered a dramatic work using music and song to advance the plot, narrative or character. In accordance with encouraging excellence in the form, new works will be prioritised.
2024 award winner
- Best Musical
A History of Paper (Traverse)
The OffFest / The Offies
The OffFest is the Offies award for shows at theatre festivals or theatre shows at general arts festivals.
To be eligible for an OffFest, there needs to be a minimum of three performances during the festival.
If your show gets two or more 4-5* reviews from accredited reviewers, send the links to these reviews to [email protected], along with an image for the show and all relevant Twitter handles, and we will then confirm an OffFest nomination for the show.
There is a separate set of OffFest awards for each festival. This means that if you get two or more 4-5* reviews at one festival and a further set of 4-5* reviews at another festival, your show may then get two separate OffFests. Please note that you cannot combine reviews from different festivals in your submission for an OffFest. The reason for this is so we can, in due course, announce finalists and a winner for each festival, chosen from all the OffFest nominations at that festival.
Winners will be announced at the Offies awards ceremony to be held in late February 2025.
2023 Edinburgh Fringe winners
- Musicals and Circus
Godfather Death: A Grimm’s Musical (Greenside) - LGBT
52 Monologues for Young Transsexuals (Pleasance) - New writing
Mark Thomas’s England & Son (Summerhall) - Solo performance
SAD-VENTS (Underbelly) - Theatre
Diana the Untold and Untrue Story (Pleasance)
Popcorn Writing Award
The Popcorn Writing Award champions brave and imaginative writing which playfully and artistically questions and addresses current affairs and societal trends and contributes positively to public debate.
Partnering venues include Assembly Festival, Gilded Balloon, Pleasance, Summerhall, Traverse Theatre, Underbelly.
2024 award winners
- VL by Kieran Hurley & Gary McNair, Roundabout @ Summerhall
- Weather Girl by Brian Watkins, Summerhall
The Scotsman Fringe First Award
Designed to encourage performers to bring new work to Edinburgh in the spirit of adventure and experiment, the Scotsman Fringe First Awards celebrate the best new writing on the Fringe, as judged by the team of critics from Scotland’s national newspaper, the Scotsman.
The Scotsman Fringe First Awards are presented weekly throughout the Fringe.
2024 award winners
Week one:
- BATSHIT (Traverse)
- The Border (Pleasance)
- Cyrano (Traverse)
- A History of Paper (Traverse)
- June Carter Cash: The Woman, Her Music And Me (Summerhall)
- So Young (Traverse)
Week two:
- Comala, Comala (Zoo Southside)
- A Letter to Lyndon B Johnson or God: Whoever Reads This First (theSpace @ Niddry Street)
- Mairi Campbell: Living Stone (Scottish Storytelling Centre)
- Son of a Bitch (Summerhall)
- VL (Roundabout @ Summerhall)
- Weather Girl (Summerhall)
Week three:
- A Knock On The Roof (Traverse)
- Instructions (Summerhall)
- REVENGE: After the Levoyah (Summerhall)
- My Mother’s Funeral: The Show (Roundabout @ Summerhall)
- A Little Inquest Into What We Are All Doing Here (Zoo)
The Scottish Theatre Awards on the Fringe
Each year, the Scottish Theatre Awards on the Fringe, supported by the Scottish Arts Club, award prizes for Scottish theatre productions and individuals appearing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Every Scottish theatre show appearing on the Fringe is reviewed – normally a list of over 100 productions.
The Leading Light prize is awarded to the best Scottish theatre production. Productions with a Scottish director, writer or cast, or a Scottish-based theatre company, are eligible.
Bright Spark prizes are awarded to Scottish actors or theatre-makers just embarking on their career.
The nominations for these awards are selected by a panel of judges drawn from the Scottish arts world. The prizes include cash and a certificate and the winners are presented at a formal awards ceremony held at the Scottish Arts Club.
2024 award winners
- Leading Light Award
- Winner: Love Beyond by Ramesh Meyyappan (presented by Raw Material and Vanishing Point in association with Aberdeen Performing Arts) (Assembly)
- Runner up: A History of Paper by Dundee Rep Theatre and Traverse Theatre (Traverse Theatre)
- Bright Spark Awards
- Zoë Bullock for Gracie and the Start of the End of the World (Again) (Assembly)
- Alexander Tait for Kev Campbell Was He (theSpaceUK)
- Fraser Allan Hogg and Lorna Panton for Shotgunned (theSpaceUK)
The Sit-Up Awards
The SIT-UP Awards supports theatre productions to achieve significant social impact.
In 2024 the main winner will receive a spot at the SoHo Playhouse’s prestigious International Fringe Encore Series in January 2025 including a cash prize of £5,000 towards expenses. This includes venue, accommodation and production provision in NYC with additional support for the winner towards audience engagement.
This year, SIT-UP Awards are also making five grants of £1,000 each before the Fringe to support productions to engage with audiences during their run.
The closing date for all applications is 30 June.
For more information and application requirements please visit www.situpawards.org.
2024 award winner
- Famehungry (Summerhall).