|
|
|
|
|
|
PERRIER AWARD
The Perrier Comedy Award was a prestigious award for comedy, awarded for the best comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe which was sponsored by the Perrier brand of bottled water.
The prize was initially a week's run at the New End Theatre in Hampstead and a small cheque. Now winners receive £7,500 and a run in London's Theatreland. Since 1992, there has also been a "Best Newcomer" award.
In 1995 Perrier was bought by Nestle, whose ambivalent relationship with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes led to calls to boycott the awards, which are slowly being taken up by fringe venues and performers on an individual basis. In the light of Nestle's ownership of Perrier, former winners Emma Thompson and Steve Coogan have both called for the awards to be scrapped and Rob Newman led a high profile campaign of protest in 2001[1]. On his DVD "Stand Up Comedian", Stewart Lee calls for the boycotting of the award because of the practices of Nestle.
In June 2006 Perrier announced it would no longer sponsor the award [2]. Instead, Scottish bank Intelligent Finance will sponsor a comedy award, to be known as the If.comeddies.
Beneficiaries since 1981
Note: the 2001 awards were notable for the campaign Baby Milk Action criticising Nestle, owners of the Perrier brand (see above).
External link - Guardian critical round-up of the 2001 shortlist.
Note: the 2002 awards were criticised for being the second consecutive year in which no female acts were shortlisted.
External links
|
|
|
|
|
|
|