Funny Women PR Mentors
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Funny Women Awards 2016 Celebrity Mentors for Stage Award announced The awards that definitively answered the question ‘are women funny?’ - the Funny Women Awards - have announced their celebrity mentors. The finalists of the Stage Award can look forward to expert advice from: Zoe Lyons - Doon Mackichan - Shazia Mirza - Sara Pascoe - Tiffany Stevenson - Ellie Taylor Funny Women founder, Lynne Parker, explains just what it means to have the involve- ment of these outstanding female comedians: "This is the first time in our fourteen-year history that we've had mentors for our finalists and we are delighted to have started this initiative with such a stellar line-up." “All of the mentors have a huge work ethic and are connected with Funny Women through the Awards or the many shows we’ve produced over 14 years. It means so much to all of us to have their support.” 2016 Funny Women Awards mentors Zoe Lyons Zoe won the Funny Women Award in 2004 and has amassed a huge amount of credits since including Mock the Week (BBC Two), Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow (BBC One), The Paul O'Grady Show (Channel 4), The Wright Stuff (Channel 5) and Dave's One Night Stand. Zoe says: "There's incredible range of female comedians involved in Funny Women, it's an amazing showcase of talent." Doon Mackichan Doon is best known for TV comedy roles including double Emmy Award-winning Smack The Pony (Channel 4), Beast (BBC One), Toast (BBC One), Plebs (ITV2), The Day Today (BBC Two), Psychobitches (Sky Arts) Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Par- tridge (BBC Two), and many of the Comic Strip films (BBC Two). Doon says: "We are still, as women in comedy operating in a pretty medieval envi- ronment. One women per panel show, one woman on a bill full of men, one female led sitcom for every ten men's stories. Let the much needed tidal wave of comedy begin, get on your surf boards ladies, I will see you on the beach!” Shazia Mirza Shazia Mirza has enjoyed regular appearances in the spotlight and has appeared on NBC's Last Comic Standing (where she was a semi-finalist), The Jonathan Ross Show (ITV1) and The Wright Stuff (Channel 5). Shazia has written for The Guardian and also for The New Statesman, winning the Professional Publishers Award for her articles. Shazia says: "Funny Women, has supported, encouraged, and created an open cre- ative space to inspire confidence in women to fulfil their comedic potential." Sara Pascoe A Funny Women runner-up in 2008, Sara Pascoe has travelled far in a short space of time, with her many credits including Live at the Apollo (BBC1), QI (BBC), Stand Up for the Week (Channel 4), Mock the Week (BBC Two), series regular roles in Twenty Twelve, and W1A (BBC Two), The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret (More4), Campus (Channel 4); with guest roles including The Thick of It (BBC Two) and Being Human (BBC Three). Sara’s debut book “Animal” is published by Faber and released Spring 2016. Sara says: "I love women, I love funny ones the most and I’m so pleased to be part of something encouraging the new exciting generation.” Tiffany Stevenson Tiffany's many TV credits include The Apprentice: You’re Fired, Russell Howard’s Good News, Mock The Week, Never Mind The Buzzcocks (all BBC Two), Celebrity Deal Or No Deal (Channel 4), Show Me The Funny, (ITV1) Drunk History (Comedy Central), The Of- fice (BBC Two), and People Just Do Nothing (BBC Three). Tiffany also writes regularly for Metro. Tiffany says: "Funny Women offers a vital, supportive network for new female comics whether it's stand up, sketch or character based. I can't wait to see all the brilliant new talent." Ellie Taylor Ellie has appeared on Mock the Week (BBC Two), The John Bishop Show (BBC One), As Yet Untitled with Alan Davies (Dave), Family Tree (BBC Two/HBO), Drunk History (Come- dy Central), Virtually Famous (E4), Sweat the Small Stuff (BBC Three), Snog Marry Avoid (as host, BBC Three), 8 out of 10 Cats (Channel 4) and Show Me The Funny (ITV1). Ellie says: "I’m absolutely delighted to be part of this year's Funny Women awards supporting Refuge. I can’t wait to mentor some upcoming female comedy talent, mostly so they’ll employ me in the future." The Funny Women Awards - categories & registration Stage Award The Stage Award aims to find the best new comedy performer(s). The winner receives £2000 prize money and industry support for career development, including two fully sup- ported shows. Held up and down the UK, the heats start in April and go through all the way to the region- al finals in July and August, the final takes place on September 28 and will be hosted by Kerry Godliman. This year Funny women are delighted to announce that the final will be held at London’s celebrated KOKO (formerly the Camden Palace). The venue has seen some of the world’s best musicians perform on its stage from The Clash to Prince, and comedians from Mon- ty Python to Katherine Ryan. http://funnywomen.com/funny-women-awards/stage-award/ Registration deadline: Wednesday 1st June at midnight. Comedy Writing Award Entrants supply a treatment (of one or two sides of A4) and three sample scenes of a comedy script for television. The prize includes £2000, intensive mentoring and script op- tioning with award winning production company, The Comedy Unit. http://www.comedyu- nit.co.uk http://funnywomen.com/funny-women-awards/comedy-writing-award/ Registration deadline: Monday 15th August at midnight Comedy Shorts Award Entry requires a film of 1-3 minutes that can utilise any comedic discipline as long as it makes sense as a cohesive film. Winners receive £2000 and their film is promoted on YouTube and the Funny Women home page. It will also be featured on Huffington Post UK. Once again, industry expertise is also offered. http://funnywomen.com/funny-women-awards/comedy-shorts-award/ Registration deadline: Wednesday 31st August 2016 at midnight. Best Show Award A new category created this year to recognise and reflect the burgeoning number of excel- lent full-length (an hour or more) shows from female comedians. The nominations are made by the public via Twitter hashtags, then Funny Women industry judges select a win- ner through the shortlist arrived at by the hashtag votes. The prize, in this case, is simply to raise more industry awareness of these shows. A brief history of the awards The Funny Women Awards were started in 2003, and have been the launch pad for nu- merous talented comedians, writers and short filmmakers including: Bridget Christie, Su- san Calman, Katherine Ryan, Andi Soho, Sarah Pascoe, Zoe Lyons and Sarah Milli- can. “I had just started stand-up comedy when I won the award, and loads has changed since then. Funny Women provided me with lots of friends, advice, and exposure.” Katherine Ryan ‘I highly recommend it, it’s a great place for women to hone their act’ Miranda Hart ‘I can’t wait to see what a great bunch of women this year produces’ Aisling Bea Find out more about Funny Women: Images: a selection of former finalists and their websites: http://tinyurl.com/zh4mu4e Website: http://funnywomen.com Twitter: @funnywomen Hashtag: #FWAwards2016 Come and watch a heat: http://funnywomen.com/whats-on/awards/ The Funny Women Awards are sponsored by Benefit Cosmetics www.benefitcosmet- ics.com/uk and are proud to support the national domestic violence charity Refuge www.refuge.org.uk Press & media contact: Julian Hall at Textual Healing PR 07810 486658 [email protected] [email protected] / @TextualHealing2 .