ALL ABOUT AWARDS
Fringe shouldn’t be about competition. In fact, Hollywood Fringe is known for its welcoming and constructive community.
That said, awards can have a valuable impact on a production's future prospects. And so we have the Fringe Award Ceremony on the last day of the festival (June 25, 2023).
We give out two kinds of awards: Community Awards & Sponsored Awards.
COMMUNITY AWARDS
The Community Awards, lovingly known as “The Freaks”, are determined by the Fringe community via a voting process.
These highly-coveted awards are given out to shows in each category (Ensemble Theatre, Comedy, etc.) as well as an award for Best International and Fringe First for world premiere. The highest honor, the Top of the Fringe is given to the show most adored by the Fringe community. Since our 2021 Festival, we've also added the Digital Innovation award, for shows that have taken a big leap in this digital realm.
Fringe community members receive ballots in the last days of the festival via email. Balloters include participants, venue managers, audience members who see a certain amount of shows and those who leave a certain number of reviews on hollywoodfringe.org.
The productions with the most votes in a given category are announced as nominees hours prior to the ceremony via an email newsletter and website post. The ultimate winners are revealed at the awards ceremony.
DISCOVER FRINGE AWARDS (formerly known as Sponsored Awards)
Discover Fringe Awards are presented by outside organizations to commend excellence in a number of categories. These awards tend to be more specific than the community awards and may include monetary gifts or an extension to a show's run.
Winners are announced at the awards ceremony along with the community awards.
A list of awards are posted here each year about a week before the Festival.
Are you an organization interested in presenting an award? Read all about the benefits of joining our industry program, presenting an award and the requirements to do so.