History
The award was created by Perrier in 1981 as a way of supporting young talent. The inaugural award was presented to the Cambridge Footlights, a cast that included Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie and Tony Slattery. Many award winners and nominees have gone on to forge successful careers in comedy and the media industry including Garth Marenghi creators Richard Ayoade and Matt Holness, double act Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller, QI panellist Alan Davies, Mock the Week panellist Chris Addison and many others.
The "Best Newcomer Award" category was introduced in 1992. In 2006, the awards became known as "if.comeddie" Awards and the inaugural "Panel Prize" was given out. Four years later, the name was again changed to Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards, for sponsorship reasons.
Read more about this topic: Edinburgh Comedy Awards
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