Funny Women has announced its sponsors and partners for the 2021 global ‘Funny Women Awards’. Sky Studios is on board as the main sponsor, supporting the Stage Award and Comedy Writing Award. NextUp Comedy is sponsoring the Comedy Shorts Award, and heat Magazine & heatworld are media partners for the brand-new Content Creator Award.
As well as cash prizes for the winners and runners up, heat Magazine is offering a ‘money can’t buy feature’ in its magazine and heatworld will feature each of their 10 finalists online. NextUp Comedy will produce original content. Leading comedy photographer Steve Ullathorne will shoot the Stage Award winner in his studio. Mick Perrin International will invite all the Stage Award finalists on a national tour of arts centres and theatres, and in addition to this tour, will also offer the highest rated international act a prestigious place on its agency roster plus produce and underwrite an Edinburgh festival run! Sky Studios is also offering, for the first time, a funded development prize for the winner of the Comedy Writing Award.
Bespoke jewellery maker Tatty Devine will once again provide unique handmade trophy necklaces for each of the category winners.
In addition to this Funny Women can announce a partnership with BAFTA Media Technology to use its exciting awards management software, Nucleus.
Funny Women is also proud to support TIME’S UP UK as its 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.
TIME’S UP UK Chair Dame Heather Rabbatts says; “We are delighted to be the charity partner for Funny Women, which we see as such an important platform for discovering female comedic talent. TIME’S UP UK has worked with comedy since its very beginning, in particular championing female comedy writers and we look forward to working together to both ensure safe and dignified work environments and to support the development of women in comedy."
Funny Women Comedy Writing Award is sponsored by Sky Studios. Tilusha Ghelani, Comedy Commissioning Editor, Sky Studios says: “Sky Studios are proud to support the important work that Funny Women does by sponsoring this year’s Stage Award and Writing Award. For years, Funny Women has done an incredible job at finding the very best new female comic talent. Sky Studios are firm believers in supporting these new voices, so with our funded development prize this year, we hope to steer some of this exciting female talent onto our screens.”
Funny Women heat Content Creator Award: heat is the brand that sets the agenda of popular culture and fuels conversation around the rich and famous. The heat universe has the magazine as the mothership with a digital radio station, online and social media platforms. heat gets the real story behind celeb news with unrivalled access to some of the biggest TV and pop icons, but always with the famous heat sense of humour.
Funny Women Next Up Comedy Shorts Award: NextUp is a worldwide subscription video-on-demand platform specialising in stand-up specials. As well as familiar household names, there are also acclaimed rising stars and circuit legends to discover. NextUp seeks to bring a diverse range of comedians, with comedy to suit all tastes, to a wider audience by providing platforms for them to showcase their work to comedy fans without the restrictions of show dates, locations, ticket availability or cost.
Touring Partner: Mick Perrin Worldwide has promoted tours across both the UK and Internationally for over 20 years. Its touring talent includes such luminaries as Eddie Izzard, Austentatious, Simon Amstell, Sarah Kendall, Dylan Moran, Katy Brand, Ross Noble, No Such Thing As A Fish, Paul Merton & Chums, Julian Clary, Reginald D Hunter and many more besides. International artistes discovered and introduced to the UK include: Trevor Noah, Bo Burnham, Loyiso Gola, Anuvab Pal, Francesco De Carlo, Brodi Snook. https://www.mickperrin.com.
Managing Director Mick Perrin says:“Funny Women is without doubt the finest platform in this country for discovering top female comedic talent. As both a fan and former judge, my aim is to give our full support to the Funny Women brand and, hopefully, enhance the overall experience by taking the finalists on a nationwide tour of arts centres and theatres. Developing comedic skills requires stage time in front of a live audience. Few, if any, of the finalists, will have performed in front of a large audience and none will have toured in venues across the country. This opportunity offers a rare and invaluable experience to budding female comedians and my company is delighted to be part of this historic event.”
Judging Platform: BAFTA Media Technology (BMT) is BAFTA’s in-house tech development and solutions provider - servicing BAFTA’s awards, applications and events programmes. BMT’s Nucleus platform provides end-to-end management of BAFTA’s nine annual awards programmes and has been successfully licensed by third party awards organisers including the Royal Television Society, Edinburgh TV Festival and Broadcast Magazine.
Emma Perry, Director of BAFTA Media Technology says: “BAFTA Media Technology (BMT) is excited to begin working with Funny Women. Funny Women’s mission to discover, promote and celebrate female voices strikes a chord with BAFTA’s own vision to drive change, champion inclusivity and tackle underrepresentation in our industry.”
unny Women has already received numerous entrants from all over the globe that include Italy, USA, Spain, Luxembourg, Iceland, Indonesia and the UAE! The heats are expected to happen in Melbourne, Los Angeles, Boston, Milan, Amsterdam, and Dublin as well as across the UK from the end of July. The final takes place at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre on Thursday 23rd September. The Awards are still open for registration via www.funnywomen.com with a closing date of 30th June.
Founder Lynne Parker, who set up Funny Women 19 years ago, added “The Funny Women Awards continue to be an incredible showcase for brilliant performers, writers and creators and last year's 'lockdown' Awards didn't disappoint. This year we will showcase even more amazing new talent in partnership with leading media and comedy brands, Sky Studios, heat, BAFTA, NextUp and Mick Perrin Worldwide. This support is a wonderful endorsement of our hard work and dedication and enables us to provide amazing opportunities and prizes. I am particularly proud and pleased that our new charity partner is Times Up UK. Talent should be the priority in the selection process, not sexual favours. If we are to have true parity in the comedy industry, we have to make sure that all female identifying artists can travel and perform in safety.”
Past winners and finalists include Katherine Ryan, Roisin Conaty, Sarah Millican, Sara Pascoe, Zoe Lyons, Sindhu Vee, London Hughes, After Life’s Kerry Godliman and Game of Thrones actress Gemma Whelan.
