Buxton Festival Fringe presents 2008 awards

PRESS RELEASE: For immediate release July 28 2008

Buxton Festival Fringe presented its eagerly anticipated Fringe Awards on Sunday (July 27) in the impressive surroundings of the Fine Dining Room at the Dome, home of Fringe sponsor, the University of Derby Buxton.

Chair John Wilson, who plans to retire from the role this autumn, hailed it as 'My best ever Fringe and a wonderful Fringe to bow out on'. Bigger than ever, the 2008 Fringe featured some 126 entries with around 448 performances and John made special mention of the fact that 46 of the entries were examples of 'New Writing', confirming the Fringe's role as a place to try out new material and dare to be different.

Fierce competition resulted in a large number of nominations. Among the eventual award-winners were Non Stop Cabaret Theatre Company winning Best Theatre Production for its highly physical, visceral version of Jean Genet's classic The Maids, and in the Music section, Marios Argiros and Dimitris Dekavallas (Music for Oboe and Guitar) and City of Manchester Opera (Opera Night) sharing a joint top prize.

Several awards were also made for individual performers in various categories and a special Spirit of the Fringe award was presented to Chapel Youth Centre Jam Nite (The Story of Jam) for its community work with young people and overall support for the Fringe (in full Fringe T shirt finery!).

John also thanked all the performers, award-winning or not, for making the Fringe such a success and gave thanks to the 70 or so volunteers who have helped to organise the event. He also made special mention of VIP guests including Nick Watterson from The Old Clubhouse, sponsor Trevor Osborne from the Buxton Crescent Hotel and Thermal Spa Company Ltd and from the Festival, new chair Dame Janet Smith.

Award winners receive free entry to next year's Fringe plus certificates. The full list of nominations is as follows with the winners printed in bold:

New writing:

Comedy:

Best show

Best individual performer:

Dance:

Nomination and winner:

For Families:

Music:

Best Entry

Best Performer

Spoken Word

Theatre

Best Production

Best actor

Best young actor

Visual Arts

Spirit of the Fringe:

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