“I’m so taken aback, I want to thank all the comedians who voted for me!” That was Alison Spittle collecting best show at the 2025 Comedians’ Choice Awards for her show BIG. Beyond The Joke’s write-up of the results has the quote. The trophy came with no cheque behind it. This year’s version won’t have one either, and voting is open right now.<\/p>\n
\n“I’m so taken aback, I want to thank all the comedians who voted for me!” – Alison Spittle, 2025 best show winner<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
A trophy, a week of rehearsal room and \u00a3500 of PR<\/h2>\n
Chortle reported on 17 August that voting had opened, and the prize list is worth reading slowly because it contains no money for the performer. In Chortle’s words: “All three winners will receive a trophy.” The best show and best newcomer winners “will also be offered a London transfer to the Bill Murray, a week of free rehearsal space there, a preview show ahead of their next Fringe run”, plus “\u00a3500 towards a PR package with Flick Morris PR.” Then the line that most award announcements bury: “Winners are not obliged to accept the prizes, but there is no cash alternative.”<\/p>\n
The Bill Murray sits at 39 Queen’s Head Street in Islington, N1 8NQ. Angel Comedy runs stand-up there nightly, free shows and ticketed ones. A week of rehearsal space in that postcode is a real thing to be handed. It matters most if you’re a debut act whose entire August budget went on a room, a poster run and a flat shared with two sketch performers and their inflatable prop. Whether it beats a bank transfer depends entirely on how much rent you’re carrying in September. I’d guess the answer varies wildly act to act. The \u00a3500 never touches the winner’s bank account either, since it goes towards a PR package with Flick Morris PR.<\/p>\n
When are the Comedians’ Choice Awards 2026 winners announced?<\/h2>\n
The winners are announced at 4.30pm on 26 August at the Three Sisters. Chortle’s report puts the rest of the timetable plainly: “A shortlist will be announced on August 24, and voting closes at 11.59pm on August 25.” So the shortlist lands first and voting stays open for another day after it. That’s unusual, and if you’re an act with a shortlisted show, it’s a full 24 hours in which flyering suddenly feels like campaigning.<\/p>\n
The eligibility rule is the reason anyone in a green room cares. Chortle: “Every comedy show at the Fringe can vote and can be voted for.” No judging panel, no industry list, no venue quota. Barry Ferns, who runs Angel Comedy, set the awards up in 2014, and they’re run with British Comedy Guide. Past best show winners include Mat Ewins, Julia Masli, Joz Norris, Elf Lyons, Bec Hill and Alison Spittle. That list has aged considerably better than several panels I could name. A 4.30pm ceremony also lets a working act pick up a trophy and still make an eight o’clock stage time, which is presumably why it isn’t at midnight like most things in that week.<\/p>\n
\u00a316,000.01 two nights later at the Counting House<\/h2>\n
Two days after the Three Sisters ceremony, at 11.30pm on Friday 28 August, the ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards hand out actual money at The Counting House. The breakdown: \u00a35,000 for best show, \u00a34,000 for best newcomer, \u00a35,000 for the panel prize, \u00a31,000.01 for Joke of the Fringe (the penny presumably there for the pleasure of writing it out) and \u00a31,000 for best tech, which we wrote about when the \u00a316,000.01 total was announced<\/a>. The Edinburgh Comedy Awards, meanwhile, went to a three-year deal with Audible this summer. Chortle reported the numbers plainly: “The prize money for the Audible Best Comedy Show will be \u00a310,000, with \u00a35,000 each awarded to the Taffner Family Best Newcomer and Audible Panel Prize winner.”<\/p>\n
Set those against a peer-voted award with a rehearsal room attached and you’ve got three funding models sharing one month: Audible’s sponsor money, ISH’s crowd-and-comedian pot with a tech-op prize nobody else bothers to give, and the Comedians’ Choice, which has been running since 2014 on no prize fund whatsoever. The NextUp award pays \u00a3500 and hands over a 204cm trophy<\/a>, which is its own answer to the question. Whoever wins that one still has to get 204cm of it onto a southbound train.<\/p>\n
Nobody publishes the turnout<\/h2>\n
Here’s what isn’t in the announcement, and I looked: how many acts actually vote. Chortle’s report doesn’t give a number and I couldn’t find one published anywhere by the organisers. “Every comedy show at the Fringe can vote” tells you who’s eligible and nothing at all about how many bothered. A peer award is only as good as the number of comics who open the link on a phone at 1am, with a flyer bundle under one arm. That’s my read rather than a criticism of anyone running it. A self-selecting electorate of performers still produced Julia Masli and Elf Lyons before the panels caught up. The shows getting the peer vote tend to be the ones other acts stand at the back of, which is roughly how the comedy programme<\/a> is navigated by anyone actually working it.<\/p>\n
There’s a risk in it too. A vote open to every show is a vote open to every show with a big cast, a producer and a mailing list. There’s no panel to raise an eyebrow at that. What the awards have instead of a rule is the third category: best person. Last year that went to Kyle Legacy for performing in four shows a day. That’s the prize I’d want. Four shows a day for a month, and the recognition is a trophy and a room full of comedians who know exactly what four shows a day does to your voice by the third week.<\/p>\n
Sources<\/h2>\n
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- Chortle – Voting opens in 2026 Comedians’ Choice Awards<\/a><\/li>\n
- Beyond The Joke – The Comedians’ Choice Awards 2025 results<\/a><\/li>\n
- Beyond The Joke – ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards \u00a316,000.01 prize fund<\/a><\/li>\n
- Chortle – Audible to sponsor Edinburgh Comedy Awards<\/a><\/li>\n
- Angel Comedy Club – The Bill Murray<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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