The Comedy for Change international community has announced the formation of The Finger Awards, designed to honour outstanding comedic projects with a social impact anywhere around the world.
The first-ever Finger Awards ceremony will be hosted by former senior TV executive, turned comedian, writer and broadcaster Cally Beaton at a special event held at TV industry international conference Content London, on the 5th December 2019 at the St Pancras Hotel in Central London.
The prize has been created to provide a platform for comedy professionals who have gone out of their way to try to make the world a better place by using their craft. It represents an industry recognition of these efforts by an international panel of over 50 A-list judges, all members of the Comedy for Change community. Among them are writers from The Simpsons, Family Guy, HIGNFY and more.
Nominations for the first Finger Awards included 80 candidates from over 30 countries and included stand-up routines, trolling acts, TV shows, ad campaigns, podcasts and more.
In addition, the community will grant a lifetime achievement award for outstanding contribution to society to someone who has been tireless in their efforts to raise awareness of issues of importance using comedy.
The Finger Awards initiative is led by a steering committee that includes high profile names from all aspects of the international industry including writer and multi Emmy Award winner Rob Kutner from the US (Conan, The Daily Show), Alessandra Orofino from Brazil (The Gregg Show), comedian Dan Ilic from Australia and Keri Lewis Brown from the UK (K7Media).
Omri Marcus, director of the Finger Awards said: “It was George Orwell that once said that every joke is a tiny revolution. It is clear today that the unique power of comedy is able to shake perceptions, raise awareness, ridicule social injustice and sometimes even literally change legislation. Our international community is all about joining forces to educate and collaborate. Our goal is to change the world for the better one joke at a time.”
Established in 2014, Comedy for Change is an international community of comedy writers, performers and executives who are interested in using their skills and platforms to affect social change. The network has over 100 senior representatives from 20 countries. The goal of the network is to share, teach, learn, and collaborate in creating effective comic content. Special focus is given to fighting racism and discrimination.
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