By Grace Hatchell
Well, Edinburgh Fringe might be entering its latter stages, but apparently nobody is allowed to put their feet up just yet.
The longlists for The List Festival Awards 2026 have been announced, celebrating some of the shows and performers that have been making their mark across Edinburgh this August. The awards cover comedy, cabaret, dance, circus, physical theatre and children’s work, alongside a number of special and partner prizes.
And there are a lot of names.
So pop the kettle on. We could be here a while.
The final ceremony takes place on Friday 28 August from 2pm to 5pm at W Edinburgh, where artists and industry folk will gather for what I imagine will be a considerably more glamorous afternoon than my usual one involving a satchel and somebody wondering where their parcel has gone.
First up is Best Comedy Show, and the longlist includes Man Sings The Same Song Over And Over Again For An Hour – which, incidentally, may be one of my favourite Fringe titles this year – alongside Frankie McNair: Huge Ass Mindset, Elf Lyons Is The Woman On The Edge, She/They, Alfie Brown: The Entertainer, Sydnee Washington: My Black Barbie Story and David Elms Describes A Room.
The comedy longlist continues with Jack Brookmyre: Impressionable, Brendan Scannell: The Abyss, Madeleine Brettingham: Legend, Dan Rath: Help Me Please and Scout Boxall: God’s Favourite.
Then we have cabaret – because this is Edinburgh and apparently ordinary is simply not an option.
The Best Cabaret Show longlist features Reuben Kaye: Hard To Swallow, Deception: A Magic Experience, Sarah Hester Ross: Serving Cunt, Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett, Kevin Quantum: Invisible Force, Liberace And Liza: A Tribute, Fempaths: Transistor Radio Hour, The Upside Down Cabaret and Colin Cloud: Hoax.
Things become considerably more physical in the Best Dance, Circus & Physical Theatre Show category. Among those recognised are Collaborator from Ockham’s Razor, Not For Glory, Border Bodies, Black Blues Brothers: Let’s Twist Again!, Yuck Circus: Naughties, Under Mask, Sand, Soft Spot, The Sumo Show HIRAKUZA and Tell Me. The Palestinian Circus: Step And A Half also makes the longlist.
The younger Fringe-goers haven’t been forgotten either.
Best Kids Show contenders include Max Fulham’s Monkey Business, Darryl J Carrington: Out Of The Box, Vasthy And Friends: Sing, Dance, Play!, Boys Don’t Dance, Mama G: The Magic Bookmark, Glob, The Listies: 110% Ready and Float.
There is also a Best LGBTQIA+ Show category, with the longlist featuring Daddy, Turn Your F*cking Phones Off, A Gay Masseur’s Guide To Happy Endings, Hugo’s Rainbow Show, Megasquirt: Fully Loaded, Skank Sinatra: How To Succeed In Show Business Without Really Trying, Cruising, Big Gay Afterparty, An Evening With Dame Granny Smith, Heated Rivalry: The Musical Parody, Bi-Curious George: Snail Trail and Acid’s Reign.
And Edinburgh’s international character gets a nod too.
The Best Show From Adelaide longlist includes Meteors, Millicent Sarre Is Too Tired To Smash (Patriarchy), How Not To Make It In America, Dust, My Grandpa Doesn’t Follow Me On Instagram and 70s Jukebox By The 60 Four.
There are further opportunities through the International Fringe Encore Series Edinburgh Prize, whose contenders include The Real Kyle McCarren, Around The World In 80 Toys, You And Me (And Whoever Comes Next), Hasan Al-Habib: Stuck In The Middle (East) With You, BearGirl, Kirsty Mann: Corpse, Dracula: Lucy’s Dream, The Problem, A Play On Words, Daniel Foxx: How Lovely. and One Man Musical.
That particular prize can have quite a life beyond Edinburgh attached to it. The International Fringe Encore Series gives selected emerging artists the opportunity of an extended Off-Broadway run at New York’s SoHo Playhouse, with winners chosen across Theatre and Comedy.
There’s also a new arrival on the awards scene this year: the McTavish Award.
Created by The Stand Comedy Club in partnership with The List Magazine and The Comedy Unit, it will recognise an outstanding Scottish or Scottish-based act. And this one comes with rather more than a nice pat on the back.
The winner receives £2,500, a Fringe run or tour across The Stand’s Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle venues, plus development mentoring with The Comedy Unit for television or radio. Its shortlist is due to be announced on Friday 21 August.
Now that is the sort of prize that could genuinely help somebody take their next step.
There’s another rather nice touch to this year’s awards too. Students from Edinburgh College’s HND Visual Communication course have individually designed the laurels, giving emerging local designers the opportunity to contribute directly to one of Edinburgh’s major festival-season celebrations.
The List certainly has plenty of shows to choose from. It says its reviewers cover approximately 400 productions across the Edinburgh Festival, which makes my feet hurt just thinking about it.
Editor Brian Donaldson says the longlists celebrate the productions and performers that have made the biggest impression on The List’s reviewers and scouts so far, with more shows still being seen before the final shortlists are decided. He describes the Fringe as offering “excitement, brilliance, diversity and occasional weirdness”.
Occasional weirdness?
Brian, I spent more than a week at the Fringe.
I think we can safely upgrade that to frequent.
The List Festival Awards ceremony takes place at W Edinburgh on Friday 28 August 2026, bringing together performers, creatives and the wider festival industry to celebrate another gloriously unpredictable August in Edinburgh.
And somewhere among all those longlisted names are this year’s winners.
Good luck to them all.
Grace x
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