Edinburgh International Festival Director Jonathan Mills will tonight officially announce Russian conductor and opera company director Valery Gergiev as the new Honorary President of the festival. Gergiev succeeds Charles Mackerras, who died last July, in the honorary role, and is only the third person to be awarded the title.

Mills will confirm the appointment ahead of a performance of the opera ‘Die Frau ohne Schatten’ by Gergiev’s company, the Saint Petersburg based Mariinsky Theatre, at the Festival Theatre tonight. It is just the latest of a string of appearances by Gergiev at the EIF, he having first appeared when his company, then known as the Kirov Opera, performed ‘Khovanshchina’ in 1991.

Confirming Gergiev’s appointment as Honorary Director, Mills told ThreeWeeks: “Valery Gergiev has brought the Festival many outstanding performances with the Mariinsky Opera, London Symphony Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and is hugely popular with Festival audiences. In honour of his dedication and enthusiasm for the Festival, and because his artistic values parallel those of the Edinburgh International Festival, I am very proud to announce Valery Gergiev as the Festival’s Honorary President, and we are delighted that he has accepted this position. Not only is he a superb talent, he is a truly international figure and a great humanitarian”.

Mills continued: “I am certain that the Mariinsky Opera’s stunning production of Strauss’s epic ‘Die Frau ohne Schatten’ will move and entertain audiences. The opera continues till Saturday and there are still a very few tickets remaining. I urge everyone to get along and enjoy this wonderfully sung, spectacularly staged, huge production. The Festival very much looks forward to continuing and developing our relationship with Valery Gergiev into the future”.

Gergiev himself added: “I am delighted to be named as Honorary President of the Edinburgh International Festival Society. I can easily celebrate my 20 years with the Edinburgh International Festival, it is a wonderful place to visit. We artists come here with a tremendous sense of responsibility and excitement. I very much hope that the Festival continues to thrive and flourish and I am very privileged to be part of its future”.

While most of Edinburgh’s other summer festivals have now wound down, the International Festival continues through to Sunday, when the city’s festival month climaxes with the Virgin Money Fireworks Concert. The final allocation of tickets for access to Princes Street Gardens during the concert and display go on sale on Saturday morning.

As Edinburgh’s festival month reaches its conclusion this weekend, it won’t just be the final performances of the International Festival that will be entertaining the locals and more committed festival-goers, oh no. The Edinburgh Mela is back at end of the festival month, and will take over the Leith Links for a two day multicultural extravaganza. Among the eclectic line-up of events this year will be BMXing and breakdancing, alongside musical performances, family entertainment and a fashion show.

Looking ahead to the weekend, the Mela’s Director, Steve Stenning, told ThreeWeeks: “This weekend will be a sparkling finale to the summer festivals. Our programme has an ambitious mix of spectacular commissions, world premiere performances and diverse programming that I’m sure will excite and enthral in equal measure. We will also mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore with a performance from Dakshinayan UK along with traditional Scottish music. I’m especially excited about this performance, which will honour the connection between the work of Tagore and Robert Burns: an excellent example of old and new cultures meeting. And at only £2.50 per person and under-12s going free, the Mela is a great value day out”.

MSP Fiona Hyslop, who is Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Culture & External Affairs, added: “The Mela is a fantastic celebration of Scotland’s cultural diversity and a key component of Edinburgh’s world renowned festivals. With an exciting programme, featuring a host of exceptional local and international talent and a banquet of tasty food, there really is something for everyone to enjoy. In particular, the elaborate and colourful Pandals created by Scottish and Bengali artists, with support from our Expo Fund, will animate the Mela site and provide a real focal point to be enjoyed by all festival goers”.

For more information about all things Mela check www.edinburgh-mela.co.uk

So, are you ready to start thinking about Edinburgh Festival 2012 yet? The programmed Edinburgh International Festival has already announced details of two of the productions that will take place next year, both part of the World Shakespeare Festival, a UK-wide celebration of the Bard involving performers from all over the world, and linked to the London 2012 Festival, that will run either side of next summer’s Olympics.

Various organisations involved in the World Shakespeare Festival gathered at the British Museum yesterday to launch the project. Via its involvement, the EIF will present two Shakespearian productions – ’2007: Macbeth’ from Poland’s TR Warsawa and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream (As You Like It)’, a new adaptation from Dmitry Krymov. In many ways the two shows will continue a theme found in EIF’s 2011 programme, Shakespeare’s stories and plays reinterpreted, sometimes radically, by theatre companies from elsewhere in the world.

Confirming EIF’s involvement in the Cultural Olympiad’s Shakespearian strand, EIF chief Jonathan Mills told ThreeWeeks: “We are delighted to be a part of such a global celebration of Shakespeare. He remains an inspiration for artists from around the world, as demonstrated in the 2011 Festival by companies from across Asia. We look forward in Festival 2012 to presenting two exciting directors’ interpretations of his work which bring yet more international perspectives on one of the UK’s greatest cultural treasures”.

The 2011 International Festival came to a close last Sunday with the always spectacular Festival Fireworks Concert, visible from much of Edinburgh. Organisers of the festival admitted that ticket sales over all were down 3% on 2010, though figures were pretty much in line with 2009, and last year was a bumper year sales wise. Mills added that he knew his 2011 programme was more challenging, and that that was likely to have a slight impact on ticket sales, but that he felt his programming choices made for a particularly strong year artistically.

Uncertain economic times may have also played a part, of course, with the Book Festival and Edinburgh Military Tattoo also reporting slight drops in audience this year, though, as previously reported, the Fringe scored record ticket sales once again.

What’s that, another record breaking Edinburgh Fringe?

Apparently so. The persistent rain and ongoing economic uncertainty hasn’t had a negative impact on the number of seats filled at this year’s Fringe festival, or so says the Fringe Society, which publishes the central programme, runs a central box office and provides other services to the Fringe community. By its maths, some 1.88 million tickets were issued this month, compared to 1.83 million last year. And that’s before you take into account those free events where head count is less easy to calculate.

As the Fringe wrapped up for another year, the Fringe Society’s CEO Kath Mainland said: “I am delighted to announce this year has been another incredibly successful event. The courage and creativity of the thousands of individuals that participate in this unique, world-class event are what make this such an inspiring and important festival. Performers of all disciplines and backgrounds coming together to tell their stories and share their ideas is an utterly compelling prospect for the audiences, who have flocked to this beautiful festival city”.

She added: “Companies start a journey at the Fringe that will continue and resonate with audiences in different spaces and festivals across the UK and all around the world, for a long time to come. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is a magnet for performers who come here to share their work in innovative ways and I would like to thank each and every one of them, for their creative endeavour and for deciding to make the Fringe their home for the last month”.

Mainland concluded: “That almost 1.9 million tickets have been issued for this great festival, as well as the many, many people who have experienced the free non-ticketed performances, is a great testament to the resilience of the world’s largest arts festival. The Fringe’s committed, loyal and risk-taking audiences have this year enjoyed another exciting, exhilarating, challenging and entertaining month in Edinburgh”.

Of course while everyone in the Fringe community will be pleased that 2011 seems to have gone well in terms of audiences, some still fear for the 2012 festival, which will compete with the Olympics down South for talent, technicians, equipment and ticket buyers. Though those of a more optimistic persuasion hope that having a global spotlight on the UK just as Edinburgh’s summer festivals kick off might have a positive rather than negative impact on the proceedings. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh’s programmed International Festival runs for one more week until the big fireworks concert next weekend.

OK, let’s do one more awards round up shall we? As previously noted, the last days of the Edinburgh Fringe are something of an awards frenzy. And here’s the winner lists from some more Festival award programmes.

Total Theatre Awards
First up, the previously reported Total Theatre Awards, and from the lengthy shortlists announced earlier in the Festival, six overall prizes were presented last week, one in the Emerging Talent category, two in the Physical, Visual Or Devised Performance category, and three in the Innovation & Experimentation strand. An award for Significant Contribution To The Field Of Total Theatre was also presented, to Judith Knight

Before we list the winners in the main categories, here are some words from Total Theatre Awards Director Pippa Bailey: “This year we have been delighted by the diverse range of work, and have been intrigued by emerging themes such as alcohol, which was touched on in several productions, and gender, which is always a fascinating subject, and its influence could be seen across a range of high quality productions this year including one of the winners of our award for innovation. We have also been delighted by the international elements of the pieces chosen for award, including Poland’s ‘Turandot’ and ‘Tania el Khoury’ from Lebanon”.

The Winners were as follows:

Emerging
ShadyJane for ‘Sailing On’ at New Town Theatre (pictured)

Physical/ Visual/ Devised
Bunk Puppets and Scamp Theatre for ‘Swamp Juice’ at Underbelly Cowgate
NeTTheatre for ‘Turandot’ at New Town Theatre

Innovation
Tania el Khoury for ‘Maybe If You Choreograph Me, You Will Feel Better’ at Forest Fringe
Look Left, Look Right for ‘You Once Said Yes’ as part of the Underebelly programme
The Arches and Adrian Howells for ‘May I Have The Pleasure?’ at the Traverse @ The Point Hotel Conference Centre

The Stage Awards For Acting Excellence
Second up, here are the winners from this year’s acting awards run by The Stage, which celebrate professional acting talent at the Festival. Says judge and The Stage’s Scotland Correspondent Thom Dibden: “I have been coming to the Fringe and reviewing for The Stage for the last 16 or 17 years and over that time I think the difference has been that instead of people having one skill – acting or physical theatre or mime or whatever – nowadays they use a whole suite of different genres of performance to tell a story. The standard of the acting talent on the Fringe this year has been very high, I have been very impressed. Even though there are a lot more plays on the Fringe, there hasn’t been a dilution in the quality of the performances”.

And the winners were:

Best Actor: Billy Mack for ‘The Overcoat’ at the Pleasance Dome
Best Actress: Alessija Lause for ‘Danny And The Deep Blue Sea’ at St George’s West
Best Ensemble: Citizens Theatre for ‘The Monster In The Hall’ at the Traverse Theatre
Best Solo Performer: Gerard Logan for ‘The Rape Of Lucrece’ at Zoo Southside

Edinburgh International Festival Fringe Prize
Next up, the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe Prize, presented by the EIF to a production company performing at the Fringe each year. Winners of this prize present an ‘in development’ piece at the following year’s International Festival. And this year’s winners were THE TEAM for their show ‘Mission Drift’ at the Traverse Theatre.

Says EIF Artistic Director Jonathan Mills: “Edinburgh’s Festival Fringe sees a rush of exciting artists present their work in what remains an epic showcase for the performing arts. The Edinburgh International Festival Fringe Prize brings a fresh opportunity for some of the most innovative of these artists to develop new ideas and conversations”.

Herald Angel Awards
And finally finally, let’s quickly sum up the other Angel Awards that The Herald has dished out this Festival, since the previously reported first helping earlier this month. Other winners were as follows:

Week 2 winners
Mokwha Repertory Company for ‘The Tempest’ at the Edinburgh International Festival
Banana Bag & Bodice for ‘Beowulf: A Thousand Years Of Baggage’ at Assembly George Square
NeTTheatre for ‘Turandot’ at New Town Theatre
Shock N Awe for ‘Muscle’ at Zoo Roxy
The ‘These Silences’ literature programme at Summerhall
Jazz pianist Louisa Durra
Archangel winner: Simon Callow for ‘Tuesday For Tesco’ at Assembly Hall
Little Devil winner: Jim Haynes, a Festival stalwart who needed heart surgery on arrival this year

Week 3 winners
Amjad Ali Khan for his ‘Morning Ragas’ at the Edinburgh International Festival
Wu Wei for his performances at the Edinburgh International Festival
Andy Field, Ira Brand and Debbie Pearson for the Forest Fringe
Robert McDowell and his team for Summerhall
Fuel for ‘The Simple Things In Life’ at the Botanic Gardens
Archangel winner: Max Stafford-Clark for ‘A Dish Of Tea With Dr Johnson’
Little Devil winner: Zoo Southside for overcoming power supply problems

The ThreeWeeks editors this morning presented their annual Editors’ Awards at the Carlton Hotel in Edinburgh, celebrating the ten things they felt made Edinburgh Festival 2011 extra special. Here are the winners, complete with the editors’ notes about why they presented each award.

01. ROBIN INCE
Our first winner is an extremely well-loved comedian who seems to live by the Fringe ethos twelve months a year, constantly coming up with great new ideas, many of which draw in and involve other comedy talent. At the Fringe, his many shows always prove popular with the ThreeWeeks review team. And this year more than ever he proved himself a true Festival hero by staging no less than four shows, three of them in the Free Fringe, another great Edinburgh institution that he continues to support. The first winner is Robin Ince.

02. RIVER PEOPLE FOR ‘LITTLE MATTER’
We love shows that use unusual spaces at the Festival, and this year this company’s production, staged in a wagon parked in a hidden car park in the centre of Edinburgh, particularly caught our attention. Of course anyone can choose a quirky venue, but these guys have also staged a brilliant show, creating a warm and intimate experience for their audience, and a story which, our reviewer said, while new felt “as though it had been told around campfires, under open stars for millennia”. Our next winners are River People for their show ‘Little Matter’.

03. SPOTLITES
For parents, one of the most difficult things about introducing young children to theatre is the fact that they might embarrass you by running on stage, or something similar. Our next winners reduce that fear by getting children as actively involved as possible throughout their shows. We also rate their decision to not pretend their shows are suitable for all children, and rather to tailor and promote their shows to narrower age ranges, ensuring that they are fully suitable for each age group. With their own venue at Merchants Hall, our next winners truly enhance the Fringe’s children’s shows programme every year. Our next winners are Spotlites.

04. EDINBURGH BOOK FRINGE
Although best known for theatre and comedy, the Fringe is also home to a number of other cultural events, which help make this festival totally unique. Our next winners are behind a whole strand of such events, designed not only to complement the Fringe, but another of the city’s August festivals. A plethora of performers and authors visit the Word Power book shop each August to take part in talks and debates in a wonderfully intimate space. A hidden gem of Edinburgh’s festival month, the next winners are the Edinburgh Book Fringe.

05. I HATE CHILDREN CHILDREN’S SHOW
Our next winners are the creators of a children’s show that was brought to our attention last year by an appreciative ThreeWeeks reviewer, who awarded it a 5/5 rating. They returned this year and got the same rating from another reviewer, who said “Paul Nathan is a superb performer who has a sarcastic ease rarely found outside late night comedy. Sinister yet avuncular, he even manages to involve every child in a magic trick, important to parents wanting to avoid arguments later. It would be worth going just to see him banter with accompanying musician John Anaya, but the tricks too were performed flawlessly”. Our next winners are Paul and John from the ‘I Hate Children Children’s Show’.

06. CASUAL VIOLENCE!
In a year when many of the big sketch comedy troupes chose not to do a full run, we, like many others, were looking out for the next stars of the genre. And with our next winners we may have found them. Says our reviewer: “This group’s warped and perverse characters are so brilliantly constructed, and performed with such comic finesse, that the audience are in danger of unwittingly revealing their own most disturbed sensibilities in their reactions. Atmospheric musical accompaniment complements the dark and twisted writing and contributes to the more subtle, heart-wrenching scenes of tragicomedy”. Not only did they score at 5/5 rating, they won more than one fan on the ThreeWeeks team this year. Our next winners are Casual Violence!

07. CIRCLE OF ELEVEN FOR ‘LEO’
In a festival as big as Edinburgh, there will always be a number of shows which truly blow you away, but in terms of theatrical spectaculars, our next winner stood out. In their 5/5 review, our reviewer said: “The joy of this show is partly seeing the performer’s gravity-defying antics as his world and ours collide. Mostly, however, it’s from watching the amazing performance put in by Wegner as he presents an utterly convincing impression of altered gravity, dancing brilliantly and even playing the sax. Then, just when you think it can get no better, it amazes once more by introducing CGI effects that only we can see but with which Wegner interacts perfectly. Absolutely brilliant”. That says it all really. Surely one of the shows that Fringe 2011 will be remembered for, our next winners are Circle Of Eleven for ‘Leo’.

08. THE FUDGE SHOP
This is another show performed in an interesting venue. As our reviewer said, “A play about fudge, performed in a fudge shop, with free fudge – surely a winning concept”. And we couldn’t agree more. But once again, this show wasn’t just about the quirky performance space, the show was really good too, and everyone we’ve spoken to agrees with our reviewer, that it was simply very, very funny. Their ThreeWeeks review continues: “The cast of four enjoy themselves as much as the audience, as they gleefully shatter the fourth wall and ad lib their way around an already very funny script. They frequently make each other laugh as well the punters, which in other shows might be irritating, but with the audience firmly on their side, here it just adds to their charm”. Our next winners are the guys behind ‘The Fudge Shop’.

09. THE HORNE SECTION
The Fringe wouldn’t be the Fringe without the late night shows which bring together performers from across the Festival. Such shows come and go, but every so often one comes along that stands out above the rest, normally because of an interesting concept or an engaging host. Our next winners score highly in both those areas. Although both times I saw the show the guests were of a high calibre, it was the MC and his band, their games, songs and interaction, that really made this a memorable experience. For us the late night Fringe of 2011 was led by our next winners, Alex Horne and the Horne Section.

10. THEATRE ALBA
Some of our reviewers are new to Edinburgh, and the first time we provide them with bus routes to Duddingston to review a show, they are little confused and sometimes distressed. But without fail they relish the experience once they get there, because we are sending them to one of the multiple shows staged each Fringe by our next winners. We love open air theatre at ThreeWeeks, and Duddingston Kirk Manse Gardens are the perfect venue. This company always maximise the potential of their beautiful performance space, and always garner highly positive reviews from the ThreeWeeks team for their diverse range of shows. Our final winners for 2011 are Theatre Alba.

So, well done Adam Riches, the winner of this year’s main prize at the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards.

The character comedian took the prestigious prize for his 2011 show ‘Bring Me The Head Of Adam Riches’. According to Chortle, he accepted his prize at the lunchtime awards event by saying: “Wow, thank you very much, it’s terrific. Very overwhelming. When you come up you have limited ambition, you just want to put a good show together, so thank you to the panel”.

ThreeWeeks spoke to Adam earlier this festival and asked him what he felt made a good comedy show. He said: “Just keeping it simple and making it funny. I think it’s important for an audience to get what it is you are and what it is that’s funny about you as quickly as possible, so that they can relax and be taken anywhere you want”. You can read the full interview here.

The Edinburgh Comedy Award’s newcomer prize for 2011 went to the marvellous Humphrey Ker, one third of comedy troupe The Penny Dreadfuls, for his solo show ‘Humphrey Ker is Dymock Watson: Nazi Smasher!’. ThreeWeeks also caught up with Humphrey this Fringe, and he provided us with a rather unique guide to the historic Festival City, which you can read here.

In addition to the main two prizes, the Edinburgh Comedy Award panel also give out an additional gong to a performer or event that they think made this year’s festival extra special, and this year that went to Max & Ivan for their rather fine The Wrestling extravaganza.

Well done one and all.

More awards now, and the ThreeWeeks editors will tomorrow morning announce the winners of this year’s Editors’ Awards, at an informal event at the Carlton Hotel on North Bridge at 11am. Now in their seventh year, the awards celebrate the ten things that the editors of ThreeWeeks think made that year’s festival extra special. There are no specific categories, and shows, performers, companies, venues, initiatives and even whole festivals may be chosen for the honour.

Says ThreeWeeks co-Editor Chris Cooke: “There are so may awards at the Edinburgh Festival, for years we resisted adding to them. But then, at our tenth festival in 2005, we decided to launch the Editors’ Awards, which we feel complement all of the other Fringe prize givings”.

He continues: “We are not specifically looking to celebrate any one genre or strand, and we didn’t want to confine ourselves to fixed categories. What we wanted was the opportunity to throw a spotlight on some of the things we feel help make the Fringe the most exciting cultural festival in the world. Some of our winners will be newcomers, some will be Festival veterans, some will be well known, others will be unsung heroes. But they will all have contributed in making this year’s Fringe one of the best ever”.

All performers and promoters at the Fringe are invited to attend the presentation of the Editors’ Awards at the Carlton Hotel’s Highland Suite on Sunday 27 Aug at 11am. The winners will also be announced at www.ThreeWeeks.co.uk/awards and in a special edition of the ThreeWeeks iDaily.

And even more awards for you now. In fact, it’s that point in the Edinburgh Fringe when all sorts of Festival awards are dished out. So, here’s a quick summary of some of the more recent prize givings.

The last batch of Scotsman Fringe Firsts:
‘Leo’, Circle Of Eleven, St George’s West (pictured)
‘You Once Said Yes’, Look Left Look Right, meet at Underbelly
‘Minute After Midday’, 15th Oak Productions, Gilded Balloon Teviot
‘A Reply To Kathy Acker: Minsk 2011′, Belarus Free Theatre, Pleasance Courtyard
‘Mad About The Boy’, Iron Shoes, Udderbelly’s Pasture

The wonderful Malcolm Hardee Comedy Awards
For Comic Originality: Johnny Sorrow
Cunning Stunt Award: Kunt And The Gang and Bob Slayer for ‘Cockgate’
Act Most Likely To Make A Million Quid Award: Benet Brandreth

The inaugural Scottish Contribution For Drama On The Fringe Award, presented by Scottish Arts Club and EdinburghGuide.com:
Winner – ‘One Thousand Paper Cranes’, Lu Kemp, Assembly
Runner Up 1 – ‘Ten Plagues’, Traverse Theatre Company, Traverse Theatre
Runner Up 2 – ‘Federer Versus Murray’, Assembly, Assembly Hall

The winner of the Jack Tinker Spirit Of The Fringe Award was Remarkable Arts, for their programmes at the Hill Street Theatre and St George’s West.

And the winner of the Carol Tambor Award, which comes with a New York season, was ‘Leo’, performed at Remarkable Arts’ St Georges West.

Meanwhile, with the Fringe now reaching its climax, let’s round up what shows were given awards from two fellow members of the Festival Media Network. We already knew FringeReview had presented a prize to ‘Anton’s Uncles’ at the Bedlam Theatre, but what about their other awards this year? And what about the Bobbys, the new gongs presented by Broadway Baby to five-star shows they believe stood out above all the rest? Well, let’s find out…

FringeReview Outstanding Theatre Awards
‘Anton’s Uncles’, Theatre Movement Bazaar, Bedlam Theatre
‘Translunar Paradise’, Theatre Ad Infinitum, Pleasance Dome
‘The One Man Show’, SHUNT, C

FringeReview also have a Hidden Gem Award which went to Leith On The Fringe.

The winners of Broadway Baby’s new Bobbies:
‘In The Dust’, 2Faced Dance, Zoo Southside
‘Max And Ivan Are Holmes & Watson’, Pleasance Courtyard
‘Baby Wants Candy’, Assembly George Square
‘Outland’, Belt Up Theatre, C soco

Pleasance show ‘SOLD’ (pictured) and Traverse show ‘The Wheel’ have both been presented with the Amnesty International Freedom Of Expression Award.

The Amnesty prize, presented annually in association with Fest magazine, celebrates Fringe productions which carry a human rights message. ‘SOLD’ is a devised play about the hidden world of human trafficking based on interviews and encounters with real people. ‘The Wheel’ looks at the impact of war on children.

Confirming the wins, Amnesty International Scotland’s John Watson told ThreeWeeks: “‘The Wheel’ is a complex and epic story of how children can be corrupted by the ravages of war. By lurching through the centuries the way it does, it brings home the message that circumstances too often dictate how lives can go off the rails in a brilliantly performed, masterfully directed and profound piece of work that offers no easy answers except hope”.

“‘SOLD’ is an ambitious, fast-moving show which combines a strong overview of the whole issue of slavery in human society with a series of powerful cameos of individual stories, involving trafficking into this country now. It’s a memorable piece of agitprop drama which leaves us in no doubt that despite the increasing exposure of human trafficking in recent years, and widespread political debate on the issue, it is a problem that is not going away; in fact, if anything, it is growing worse, demanding real action from us all”.

‘SOLD’, which runs until Monday, also scored a 5/5 review from ThreeWeeks, our reviewer noting: “Human trafficking is a difficult subject and so, although it deserves it, this production will never receive a standing ovation. A culmination of multimedia, dance and verbatim theatre draws us into dark tales of prostitution, slavery and oppression. The statistics are depressing but there is hope; this mesmerising piece pulls the wool from our ears and our hands from our eyes”.

Stand-up Nick Helm has told the BBC that his dad wrote the joke that digital telly channel Dave has declared the best at the Festival.

Dave published their top ten jokes from the 2011 Fringe on Thursday morning, declaring this Helm gag the best: “I needed a password eight characters long, so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves”.

Commenting on his win, Helm told the Beeb: “They come and pick a joke. I didn’t know I was in the running. They said to me: ‘By the way, you have won best joke’ and I said ‘Oh really what was the joke?’ When they told me I said: ‘That’s the one my dad wrote’”.

He added: “My dad has beaten Tim Vine. He e-mailed it to me and I rewrote it, but it is my dad’s joke. That’s a proper dad joke. My dad is chuffed. He’s getting half the award money”.

Vine, always the go-to man for quality Fringe gags, came second in this year’s jokes poll with my personal favourite: “Crime in multi-storey car parks, that is wrong on so many different levels”. Meanwhile Paul Daniels took the worse gag prize for “I said to a fella ‘Is there a B&Q in Henley?’ He said ‘No, there’s an H, an E, an N an L and a Y’”. But don’t worry, perhaps it was accompanied by a killer trick.

The other eight jokes picked out, honoured and revealed by Dave, thereby simultaneously celebrating and ruining the winning comedians’ shows, were as follows:

Hannibal Buress: “People say ‘I’m taking it one day at a time’. You know what? So is everybody. That’s how time works”.

Tim Key: “Drive-Thru McDonalds was more expensive than I thought… once you’ve hired the car…”

Matt Kirshen: “I was playing chess with my friend and he said, ‘Let’s make this interesting’. So we stopped playing chess”.

Sarah Millican: “My mother told me, you don’t have to put anything in your mouth you don’t want to. Then she made me eat broccoli, which felt like double standards”.

Alan Sharp: “I was in a band which we called The Prevention, because we hoped people would say we were better than The Cure”.

Mark Watson: “Someone asked me recently – what would I rather give up, food or sex. Neither! I’m not falling for that one again, wife”.

Andrew Lawrence: “I admire these phone hackers. I think they have a lot of patience. I can’t even be bothered to check my OWN voicemails”.

DeAnne Smith: “My friend died doing what he loved … Heroin”.

Helm’s show ‘Dare To Dream’ is on at the Pleasance Courtyard until Monday.

The Musical Theatre Matters Awards have been presented for another Festival, celebrating all that is groovy in the Fringe’s musicals programme.

This year’s judges included producer Richard Jordan, OD Musical Company’s MJ Jung, playwright and musician Dave Anderson, and theatre critic Andrew Girvan from Whatsonstage.com, which sponsors the prize. As well as the five main awards, the judges presented two extra gongs, one for innovation and another to recognise an emerging director.

And the winners were…

Best Production: From the Fire, Triangle Productions, directed by Cecilia Rubino, Roxy Zoo.

Best Book: Scary Gorgeous, RashDash Theatre, written and created by Helen Goalen and Abbi Greenland, Bedlam Theatre.

Best Music: From the Fire, Triangle Productions, written by Elizabeth Swados, Roxy Zoo.

Best Lyrics: Wasted Love, One Academy, written by John and Gerry Kielty, C venues

Best New Musical: From the Fire, Triangle Productions, Roxy Zoo.

Discretionary Award for Innovation In Musical Theatre: Scary Gorgeous, RashDash Theatre, written and created by Helen Goalen and Abbi Greenland, Bedlam Theatre.

Discretionary Award for An Emerging Director: Alexandra Spencer-Jones, acknowledging her work on Constance and Sinestra, Action to the Word in a association with C theatre, C venues.

The Festival Media Network, a collective of independent media which cover the Edinburgh Festival, will stage their annual Media At The Fringe Debate at 11am on Thursday, 25 Aug, at the SpaceCabaret on North Bridge.

FMN was launched in 2010, bringing together different independent media for the first time to encourage the sharing of knowledge and to promote journalistic and editorial best practice in covering arts festivals. All Fringe promoters, performers and publicists are invited to attend the debate, where there will be an update on FMN’s activities in the last twelve months, and the opportunity to discuss the role of review media at the Fringe, and the ways in which performers, publicists and the press can better work together.

Current FMN members are Broadway Baby, Festival Previews, FringeGuru, FringeReview, Hairline, ThreeWeeks and Whatsonstage.com.

More awards news now, and for all those comedy dudes still actively pursuing careers, it’s the biggie. Yes, the Edinburgh Comedy Not Perrier Because Fosters Are The Sponsors Now Even Though They’re Not In The Title Awards*.

As always, there are two gongs here, the overall prize and the Newcomer Award. And here, ladies and gentlemen, are your shortlists for 2011. First up, the main prize, and the following are up for consideration: Adam Riches,  Andrew Maxwell, Chris Ramsey, Josie Long, Nick Helm and Sam Simmons.

And then there’s the Newcomer shortlist, which has an unprecedented eight names on it this year, as follows: Cariad Lloyd, The Chris and Paul Show, Hannibal Buress, Holly Walsh, Humphrey Ker, Josh Widdicombe, Thom Tuck and sketch duo Totally Tom.

Commenting on this year’s shortlists, Edinburgh Comedy Awards boss Nica Burns told ThreeWeeks: “This record-breaking year of 505 eligible shows demonstrates the incredible strength of the UK comedy scene, which is bursting with talent both familiar and new, and continues to grow at an astonishing rate. Not only that: in the run-up to this year’s Fringe, everyone was predicting that 2011 would be an exceptional year for newcomers – they were right. With 100 extra newcomer shows to consider, it came as no surprise that the panel was spoilt for choice. This inspired the longest debate in the history of the Newcomer Award, and a second vote. Result: an unprecedented shortlist of eight, all of whom the panel feels should be encouraged, as they clearly have a brilliant future in comedy”.

On the main prize shortlist, she added: “We have a brilliant shortlist for Best Comedy Show; a set of nominees to please differing funny bones – character, political and life-affirming comedy. And most of all – very, very funny. Comedy  in the UK is in fantastic shape. This has been a great Edinburgh Festival for comedy”.

The winners will be announced on Saturday lunchtime at the Dovecot Studios.

*The awards’ organisers would like to point out that the word ‘Fosters’ IS in the title of this award, ie it’s the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award, and to be fair the logo accompanying this story sort of proves their point. What we meant was that these awards are not generally referred to as the Foster’s Award in the way everyone called it the Perrier Award when Perrier was the sponsor. It’s all so confusing.

But what about the really important Edinburgh Fringe comedy awards, aka the Malcolm Hardee Comedy Awards, this year being staged as part of a whole week of events in honour of the late great comedy godfather?

Well, the shortlists for those are out too, and here they are, complete with notes from the awards’ organisers…

Malcolm Hardee Award For Comic Originality
Doctor Brown for oddness beyond necessity and comedy beyond reason.
James Hamilton as the odd writer, producer, director, actor and creator of ‘Casual Violence’.
Bob Slayer for going beyond OTT into uncharted areas of comedy excess.
Johnny Sorrow for simply being a bizarre act Malcolm Hardee would have loved.

The Cunning Stunt Award For Best Fringe Publicity Stunt
Tim Fitzhigham for breaking multiple bones and damaging bone marrow in pursuit of comedy.
Sanderson Jones for selling all his show tickets only to people he himself has met.
Kunt And The Gang for pushing his sticky penis stunt way beyond what seemed possible.

The Act Most Likely To Make A Million Quid Award
Benet Brandreth, because if he doesn’t make a million quid as a performer, he’ll make it as a lawyer.
Josh Widdecombe, possibly the new Michael McIntyre.

The winners of this year’s Malcolm Hardee Awards will be announced on Friday night at 10pm at The Counting House.

The winner has been announced for the first ever Amused Moose Laughter Awards, sponsored by 2entertain. The winner was chosen from ten finalists who appeared at a special event at the Bongo Club on Sunday.

As previously reported, unlike the more established Amused Moose Laugh Off Awards, which are looking for brand new stand-up talent, the all new Laughter Awards celebrate more established comedians, though those who are yet to have their own DVD release. The hope is that, aside from the five grand prize, Soho Theatre showcase and free DVD recording, all of which sounds rather fine to start with, that finalists and winners will come to the attention of promoters, producers and commissioners who can help them launch the next stage of their comedy careers.

A judging panel made up of such people selected ten finalists from online footage and Edinburgh shows, the ten finalists being Tony Law, Milo McCabe, McNeil & Pamphilon, David Morgan, Luke Wright, Paul McCaffrey, Beta Males, Jeff Leach, Jessica Fostekew and DeAnne Smith. But on the big day it was Law who triumphed overall.

Commenting on the first ever Laughter Awards, and the final hosted by Andi Osho, Stuart Snaith, MD of 2entertain, told ThreeWeeks: “The energy and excitement that Andi created in the Bongo Club and the phenomenal performances by all the finalists, who 2entertain will now be talking to over the next couple of months about possible DVD deals and support, was palpable. And the enthusiasm of a committed industry panel from as far apart as Edinburgh and Melbourne, who have been viewing online the deluge of Amused Moose Laughter Awards entries from early July and then live once the Fringe started, is to be commended and demonstrates the international respect that the Amused Moose Awards hold, and we are delighted to support these extremely thorough talent searches”.

The winner of the aforementioned brand new talent Laugh Off Awards has also been announced by Team Amused Moose, with Pat Cahill taking that prize.

Yet another of Edinburgh’s August festivals kicked off yesterday, the Festival Of Politics based at the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood.

This ThreeWeeks Editors’ Award winning festival consists of a series of politically-themed debates staged at the home of Scottish democracy. This year’s programme takes the theme of ‘Re-newing Politics In The Age Of New Media’, and includes debates on social media and politics, political communication, intellectual property in the digital age, the Scottish independence vote and recent events in the Middle East. This year there will also be some drama and music events in the MSP’s restaurant.

Although the political fest officially kicked off yesterday, most of the events take place between Thursday 25 and Saturday 27 Aug, so there’s still time to take a look at www.festivalofpolitics.org.uk and pick out some events to see.

How about another batch of those Fringe First awards The Scotsman so enjoy dishing out each Friday of the Fringe? Celebrating new playwriting at the Festival, the Fringe Firsts go to what the broadsheet’s review team consider to be the best productions of brand new plays within the Fringe’s theatre programme.

Among the second batch of Fringe First winners were:

‘Tuesday At Tescos’ at Assembly, the English language adaptation of Emmanuel Darley’s ‘Le Mardi a Monoprix’, starring Simon Callow (pictured) as transexual Pauline.

‘Allotment’ by Jules Horne and produced by Nutshell, also part of the Assembly programme, though staged on an allotment in Inverleith.

‘Your Last Breath’ by Curious Directive, at the Pleasance Dome.

‘Release’ by Icon Theatre, also at the Pleasance Dome.

‘An Instinct For Kindness’, at the Pleasance Dome yet again, a play written and performed by Chris Larner and about his real-life experiences last year when he accompanied his terminally ill ex-wife to Switzerland’s Dignitas clinic.

‘The Oh Fuck Moment’ at St George’s West, by poet Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe.

‘Scary Gorgeous’ from RashDash Theatre, who won the same prize for their 2010 production, and who return to Bedlam Theatre again this year.

And finally there is the compulsory win for a Traverse presentation, with ‘Ten Plagues’ – aka the Mark Almond show – getting a Fringe First prize, the music for this piece by Conor Mitchell and the libretto by Mark Ravenhill.

Well done one and all and one.

A Fringe comedian was injured while flyering near the Royal Mile this weekend. Jeff Mirza was dressed up as Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi when a passer-by threw a glass bottle at the back of his head. It’s not clear if the attack occurred because the man took offence at Mirza’s costume, or for some other reason. According to Chortle, it’s thought the attacker had asked Mirza for a cigarette shortly before the bottle was thrown.

Having reported the attack to the local police force, Mirza told reporters: “The Edinburgh Police were extremely helpful and have taken evidence from the scene. Most people at the Fringe get the joke of me being dressed up as a washed-up dictator trying to sell the show. I want to thank the Fringe-goers for taking my on-street portrayal of the Gaddafi character in the right way. The attacker in no way represents the vast majority of Fringe audiences”.

According to Mirza’s statement, the bottle thrower was white, slender build, average height, wearing a stone washed grey T shirt, early 30s with a tattoo on the back of his neck. Lothian & Borders Police told Chortle they are treating the incident as a minor assault and do not believe it was racially motivated.

When someone chooses the moniker Kunt And The Gang – even with the ‘k’ – I think it’s fair to say they’re going just a little bit out of their way to court controversy.

So, it seems, job done for the comedy music outfit from Basildon, because – albeit according to their own press release – they’ve put a few Fringe noses out of joint by encouraging their audiences to stick promotional cock stickers on other comedian’s posters.

Anyone wandering around the Fringe’s George Square/Bristo Square hub last weekend can’t have failed to see the cock shaped stickers, complete with a QR code that took smartphone users to a webpage containing the single word ‘Kunt’. The aim was to promote the free KATG show appearing as part of the Free Festival this year.

As KATG fans placed cock stickers on the posters of other Fringe comics, the comedy music man behind the promotion claims he received complaints from various Fringe promoters, legal threats from Underbelly, a telling off from the Fringe Society and a visit from Edinburgh Council officials. Though, he says, they did struggle to keep a straight face as they told Free Festival staff that they’d been forced to spend the day “pulling off over 100 cocks around Edinburgh”.

And some comedians do see the funny side of having large white cock stickers placed on their posters, while one key Edinburgh comedy promoter – The Stand’s Tommy Sheppard – reportedly said he’d be happy to see the cock stickers on his venue’s publicity. With chatter about what KATG themselves are trying to dub Cock-gate spilling over onto the net and into the media, some are speculating that the act is now favourite to win the Malcolm Hardee Cunning Stunt Award. Certainly award organiser John Fleming has noted the stunt on his blog.

So, while Cock-gate is earning KATG as many enemies as friends, it could all still result in a happy climax for the Kunt. By which I mean he could get an award to take back to Basildon.