Scotsman Fringe First Awards: the stories behind the guest festival prizes being awarded this week

The Brighton Fringe Award for Excellence

Presenting the Brighton Fringe Award at the Edinburgh Fringe began as an idea in a café overlooking Brighton’s iconic pier at the close of its May 2010 Festival. I had recently become Brighton Fringe’s Patron and was meeting with then-chair Heather James. Brighton Fringe is a vital part of the UK’s creative ecology, and as a producer, I’d noticed how many shows used it as a key step on their journey to or from Edinburgh.

At the time, we felt a gap existed between the two largest fringes in the UK. That seaside conversation became the catalyst for the Brighton Fringe Award for Excellence, first presented the following year, in 2011, at The Scotsman Fringe Firsts’ final awards show.

In the sprawl of Edinburgh the award stands out, not just as recognition, but as a crucial bridge for emerging artists across genres. Each year, a different Brighton venue partners to co-judge and host the winning show. The winners receive tailored support and a guaranteed slot at Brighton Fringe the following May.

Today it’s an impressive alumni of winners including Police Cops, now international touring artists; Toby Marlow, co-creator of SIX; and Philippa Dawson’s Character Flaw, which helped launch her comedy writing career.

The award fosters cultural collision – its nominees are as diverse and surprising as the Fringe itself. When sustaining creative careers is harder than ever, this award ensures that exceptional work performed at the fringe doesn’t just appear – it’s nurtured and continues to grow.

Richard Jordan, theatre producer

The Holden Street Theatres Edinburgh Fringe Award

When Richard Jordan and I created the Holden Street Theatres Edinburgh Fringe Award, our vision was to give independent artists the chance to take their work beyond Edinburgh and share it with audiences across the world. By bringing these productions to Adelaide Fringe, we not only give artists the security and support to tour internationally, but we also enrich our local audiences with some of the most exciting and innovative theatre being made today. Over time, the award has also placed Holden Street Theatres on the global map—recognised internationally as a hub for world-class theatre and a launchpad for artists’ careers.

Launched in 2007, the award was created to build a cultural bridge between two great Fringe festivals, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Adelaide Fringe, and helping artists take the next big step in their journey. Today it remains the only international touring award at the Edinburgh Fringe.

The prize offers an outstanding production the chance to tour to Adelaide Fringe the following year, with full support from Holden Street as the headlining act in our programme. This unique model removes the financial risks that usually prevent independent artists from touring internationally, while giving them the opportunity to reach new audiences, extend the life of their work, and grow their careers on a global stage.

Since its inception, the award has brought some of the most powerful and innovative productions to Adelaide, including the inaugural winner The Tailor of Inverness, Angry Young Man, Bitch Boxer, Angel, Gamblers Guide to Dying, England and Son and Why I Stuck a Flare Up My Arse For England, to name just a few.

Our Fringe programme headed by the winner has won over 100 awards between them at Adelaide Fringe, cementing the award as a launchpad for international success. For the wider industry, the award deepens the connection between two of the world’s greatest Fringe festivals and enriches Adelaide’s theatre landscape with bold, internationally acclaimed work. For artists, it has proven to be career-defining – transforming a successful Edinburgh season into a springboard for global recognition.

Martha Lott, Artistic Director, Holden Street Theatres

The Mental Health Foundation Fringe Award

Mental health has become an increasingly prominent theme at the Edinburgh Fringe over the past decade, with more and more artists making brave, honest and boundary-pushing work on the subject. The Mental Health Foundation set up its annual award in 2017, in order to recognise, support and encourage new creative work that challenges stigma, asks difficult questions, and opens up conversations.

The award is presented each year by the Mental Health Foundation and is currently sponsored by the Cornwell Charitable Trust, allowing the Foundation to offer the winner a £3k cash prize plus a flexible package of additional support tailored to the future development of their show. This may include mentoring support, mental health training, travel costs, or support with additional costs such as wellbeing practitioners.

The Mental Health Foundation Fringe Award is presented in partnership with The Scotsman, for whom journalist Tim Cornwell worked for many years as its arts correspondent. Tim, who was bipolar, was also part of the judging panel for the Mental Health Foundation Fringe Award before his death in June 2022. The award is now dedicated to Tim’s memory.

The award’s previous winners are: Mental by Kane Power (2017), Electrolyte by Wildcard (2018), All of Me by Caroline Horton (2019), Manic Street Creature by Maimuna Memon (2022), Choo Choo! by StammerMouth (2023) and Batsh!t by Leah Shelton (2024).

Andrew Eaton-Lewis, Arts Programme Officer, Mental Health Foundation

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The Filipa Bragança Award

Filipa Bragança’s life and career was short, but had an enormous impact. Filipa was only 24 when she was cast in Henry Naylor’s two-hander Echoes, which premiered at Gilded Balloon in 2015. She had barely left drama school when she was cast as Samira, a British radicalised schoolgirl, who ran away to participate in Islamic State and was trapped in a living nightmare. She portrayed the character with warmth, humanity and intelligence. It was an astonishing, brave, sensitive and moving performance which reduced audiences to gales of laughter one minute, and tears the next.

Echoes toured for over a year and won ten major international Fringe Awards. Filipa wowed critics off-Broadway and off-West End and was truly one of the rising stars of global theatre. In the midst of the world tour, she collaborated again with Naylor, premiering the monologue Angel at Gilded Balloon in 2016. It was again a sensitive and very real performance of a young student, who forsook her studies to take up arms. Filipa regularly received standing ovations and amassed 18 four-and five-star reviews, two major awards, and two nominations. I was very privileged to produce both Echoes and Angel at Gilded Balloon and toured Echoes to New York, Prague and South Australia.

In October 2016 while still in Australia, Filipa tragically died. It came as a shock to all who knew her and to us at Gilded Balloon as we had forged a close relationship with her and were looking towards her bright and successful future. I very much wanted to mark her passing by doing something to keep her spirit alive. I approached Filipa’s mother Maria Luisa and asked if it might be possible to create an award in her name.

Now in its seventh year, the Filipa Bragança Award recognises outstanding solo performances by an emerging female, female-identifying or non-binary artist in the theatre genre at the Fringe as we try to honour Filipa’s legacy in the performing arts.

Karen Koren, Artistic Director, Gilded Balloon

The Scotsman Fringe First Awards, Pleasance Grand, Friday 22 August, 10am.

READ MORE: Fringe Firsts: six more winners of the Scotsman’s prestigious theatre awards.