“A Fantastic Opportunity for Budding Comedy Writers”
For the fifth year running, the team behind Sunday for Sammy are holding a competition to find a talented new comedy sketch writer and the contest has been endorsed by two of the biggest names in comedy script writing.
A Sketch for Sammy – The Clement and La Frenais Comedy Award 2019 was launched on Sunday 21stJuly at the Bridge Hotel in Newcastle. The launch featured performances of two previous winning sketches and was hosted by comedian Steffen Peddie.
Budding new comedy writers from the region will have until the closing date of Tuesday 1stOctober to submit their sketches which should be no longer than five minutes. A short-list of six finalists will be created and comedian and comedy writer Jason Cook will help polish the scripts to performance level at a specially arranged mentoring session.
The final will take place on Sunday 27th October at 3pm at The Irish Centre in Stowell Street, Newcastle. The six shortlisted sketches will be performed by a company of professional actors and the writer of the winning sketch will receive the Clement and La Frenais Comedy Award. In addition to the six competing sketches, there will be stand-up comedy, music and a guest appearance from the highly-rated young comedy company, Your Aunt Fanny who themselves recently benefitted from a grant from the Sunday for Sammy. Trust
A panel of celebrity judges comprising actress and comedy script writer Kim Tserkezie, (Balamory) comedy writer Elliott Kerrigan (Boy Meets Girl) and Chairman of the Sunday for Sammy Trust, Tim Healy, will choose the winning sketch which will be considered for inclusion in the 2020 Sunday for Sammy show. Tickets for the final at the Irish Centre are free and can be obtained by contacting julieclay@blueyonder.co.uk
Ian La Frenais is delighted to be able to encourage up and coming talent by being associated with the award.
“Last year Dick Clement and I were asked to put our names to a comedy award for new sketch writers hosted by Sunday for Sammy. We have been involved with Sunday for Sammy since the first show in 2000. During that time the charity has donated over £540K to support young performers in the North East of England. We’re very happy to endorse the Sketch for Sammy competition again and wish all of the contestants the best of luck.”
Producer of the Sunday for Sammy shows Ray Laidlaw said,
“The Sketch for Sammy competition has proved to be a very popular event and we’re expecting a lot of high quality entries. As last year, Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement have put their names to this award. They have been at the top of their game since the 1960’s with TV classics including Porridge, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads and Auf Wiedersehen Pet. iI is brilliant to have them associated with this competition.”
Sunday for Sammy Trustee Jason Cook said, “This is an amazing opportunity for any budding writers to get their work seen and potentially performed by the best in the business. Chances like this don’t come along very often so if you’re thinking of becoming a writer you’d be daft to miss out on this.”
Ends
The competition is open to anyone aged over 16 years old. To enter the competition send your sketch to info@sundayforsammy.org by Tuesday 1st Oct.
Photo Caption. L to R Front: Chris Connel,Ray Laidlaw, Gareth Hunter, Viktoria Kay
Back Row: Steffen Peddie, Kylie Anne Ford, Paul Dunn
Photo 2 audiences enjoying the launch event
Photography The Bigger Picture
www.sundayforsammy.org www.mawson-wareham.co.uk
For further info contact Ray Laidlaw on 07710 596 749 – ray@lindisfarne.co.uk
PR by Highlights PR Contact Keith Newman 07814 397951