We are inviting Edinburgh Fringe companies who are directly addressing mental health in their work to submit their show for consideration for the 2025 Mental Health Foundation Fringe Award.

The Mental Health Foundation Fringe Award was established in 2017 in recognition of the most compelling new show about mental health at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 

The award is presented each year by the Mental Health Foundation and is currently sponsored by the Cornwell Charitable Trust, allowing us to offer the winner a £3k cash prize plus a flexible package of additional support tailored to the future development of the show. This may include mentoring support, mental health training, travel costs, or support with additional costs such as wellbeing practitioners.

The Mental Health Foundation Fringe Award is presented by the Mental Health Foundation in partnership with the Scotsman newspaper, for whom journalist Tim Cornwell worked for many years as its arts correspondent. Tim was also part of the judging panel for the Mental Health Foundation Fringe Award before his death in June 2022. The award is now dedicated each year to Tim’s memory.

The winner of the award will be announced as part of the long-running Scotsman Fringe Awards ceremony at the Pleasance Courtyard on Friday 22 August.

Mental health has become an increasingly prominent theme at the Edinburgh Fringe over the past few years, with more and more artists making brave, honest and boundary-pushing work on the subject. The Mental Health Foundation set up its annual award in order to recognise, support and encourage new creative work that challenges stigma, asks difficult questions, and opens up conversations. Its previous winners are: Mental by Kane Power (2017), Electrolyte by Wildcard (2018), All of Me by Caroline Horton (2019), Manic Street Creature by Maimuna Memon (2022), Choo Choo! by StammerMouth (2023) and Batsh!t by Leah Shelton (2024). Each year we also publish a shortlist of shows in consideration for the award.

Andrew Eaton-Lewis, arts programme officer for the Mental Health Foundation, said:

We are very grateful to the Cornwell Charitable Trust for continuing to support this award; it feels like a fitting tribute, celebrating both Tim’s long relationship with the Edinburgh Fringe and his achievements in reducing the stigma around mental health. Tim was a terrific and often underrated writer, on almost any subject you could think of; he was also very open about his mental health struggles. He was a valued member of the judging panel for the Mental Health Foundation Fringe Award, a task to which he brought both his personal insights and his many years of experience as an arts journalist.

If you want to be considered for the Mental Health Foundation Fringe Award, please send information about your show to Andrew at aeaton-lewis@mentalhealth.org.uk, no later than Friday 1 August, explaining your interest in the subject of mental health and why you think your show is eligible.