Introducing a new series of awards celebrating the best across Edinburgh’s August Festivals: The Skinny-Fest Festival Awards (for festivals) – aka The Besties (We like it when it rolls off the tongue!)
The Award is a partnership between The Skinny, Capital Theatres and Premier Scotland.
The teams behind The Skinny and Fest magazines, Capital Theatres and Premier Scotland have come together to create a new series of awards spanning all of Edinburgh’s August festivals: The Skinny-Fest Festival Awards in association with Capital Theatres, supported by Premier Scotland.
Reflecting the broad and diverse coverage both magazines produce every summer and responding to the need for a pan-festivals award, The Besties will span all the festival activity taking place in the city over the month of August, including the Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh International Film Festival and others, making them the only awards to celebrate the full spectrum of culture in the city.
Winners of The Besties will be chosen each week by the editorial teams of The Skinny and Fest, drawing on their cross-festival expertise to celebrate the best work happening anywhere in the festivals.
The categories will reflect the diversity of the magazines’ coverage, with an Outwith award highlighting the best international talent, while the Great Scot will honour work from closer to home among others.
As the only publications (that we know of) with a canine comedy correspondent, there will of course be an award chosen by our very own Fringe Dog, a sort of spirit of the Fringe accolade dubbed The Terrier Fringe Dog Award for Waggiest Tail.
The weekly awards ceremonies are to be produced by Premier Scotland and hosted by Capital Theatres at the Festival Theatre on Saturday mornings in the festival season, featuring entertainment and a guest host to help hand out the awards.
The Besties award is being designed by artist Camillo Feuchter who is currently finishing his degree in Interior & Environmental Design at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee.
Passionate about craftsmanship and featuring sustainable design and recycled materials, Camillo will produce The Besties using recyclable plastics gathered at the Festival Theatre Café and leftover wood harvested from cultural venues in the city. The Besties’ eco-chic will be unveiled in due course.
Rosamund West, Editor-in-chief of Radge Media said: “We’re delighted to be working with Capital Theatres and Premier Scotland to bring a new awards series to the Edinburgh festivals.
“Through The Besties, we’re hoping to draw on our reviewing teams’ cross-cultural knowledge to present something which celebrates the incredible calibre of the work on show, while also retaining a sense of the joyful and at-times-chaotic spirit of Edinburgh in August.
“Working with Camillo Feuchter on the awards themselves is a fantastic opportunity to place sustainability at the centre of our thinking.”
Fiona Gibson, Chief Executive of Capital Theatres said: “After a few years of the festival awards being silent, we are so excited to be bringing them back in partnership with The Skinny and Fest magazines and Premier Scotland.
“The launch of this brand-new series of awards, now known as The Besties, allows us the opportunity to host such amazing talent in our city at the Festival Theatre each week, celebrating the incredible array of creatives presenting and performing across all of the Edinburgh summer festivals this year.
“We can’t wait to welcome you, start the weekend together every Saturday in August and enjoy a bit of fun, sustenance and networking. See you there!”
Susie Gray, Executive Director of Premier Scotland said: “We are really thrilled to be part of the team bringing pan-festival awards back to Edinburgh’s amazing August celebration of culture.
“The breadth of talent in the city over the month is what makes it truly special and it feels important to mark that with the new Skinny-Fest Festival Awards – aka The Besties!
“Festival Theatre is a fantastic place to bring everyone together from comedians to world class musicians on a Saturday morning and we look forward to working with The Skinny, Fest and Capital Theatres to make this a fitting celebration.”
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