March 22, 2021

NZ FRINGE 2021 AWARDS 

New Zealand Fringe Festival announces award winners and closes biggest, most successful Fringe Festival to date, despite momentary pivot to level 2.  

The New Zealand Fringe Festival came to a triumphant close last night in Pōneke with a celebration of the best and brightest at the NZ Fringe Awards Ceremony hosted at Te Auaha: NZ Institute of Creativity.

Eighteen award winners were celebrated by a full house of artists, sponsors and audiences, with the ceremony itself also live streamed into the adjacent cinema within Te Auaha for everyone to see.

The 2021 festival wrapped with it’s most successful and largest figures to date, despite being stung in the opening week by the shift to alert level 2. Ticket sales broke previous year pre-sale records, with final pre sales up by 29.7% compared to last year’s figures with final reconciliations across our 38 Fringe venues and box offices to be completed in the upcoming weeks.

Thirty-eight different stages and unconventional performance venues were activated during the festival, offering 166 independent events and over 500 individual presentations, across 23 days, spanning 25 genres of art with over 1000 emerging and professional artists from across Aotearoa.

And the Award Winners are:

Best in Fringe
presented by His Worship the Mayor
Soliloquy in Sweat

The Parkin Development Award
supported by Chris and Kathy Parkin and BATS Theatre
Flames

Spirit of the Fringe
supported by Coliberate
Will Harris

Most Innovative Work Award
supported by Wellington International Airport
The Builders’ Fringe

The Grand Design Award
supported by Inject Design
Bruises

Outstanding Solo Performance
supported by Te Auaha
Jamie McCaskill (Company Kamupene)

Outstanding Ensemble Performance
supported by Gibson Sheat
3 Monkeys

Stellar Original Content
supported by Waitoa Social Club
Klingalong: The Constructed Language Sing-a-Long

Momentous Movement
supported by NZME
Habbuk

Most Promising Emerging Company
supported by BATS Theatre
India & Patrick Do Things LTD.

Most Promising Emerging Artist
supported by HNRY
Kiya Basabas (Potluck) & Waitahi Aniwania (Show Me The Sea, I’ll Show You My World)

Memorable Marketing
supported by Phantom Billstickers
Table

Spectacular Organised Chaos
supported by NZ Improv Festival
Fab Beasts

Social Impact
supported by CCAT
Pūtahi Festival

Pure Joy
supported by CCAT
Too Many Dead People

Melbourne Fringe Tour Ready Award
Standard Acts

The SYNZ Tour Ready Award
ALONE

Adelaide Fringe Tour Ready Award
Them Fatale

 

The 2021 New Zealand Fringe Festival solidifies itself as the biggest in its 30 year history. Rallying the city, artists and audiences to #MakeItFringe across venues, social media, in their beverages, daily life and more. The 2021 New Zealand Fringe Festival has now wrapped its 26 Feb — 20 March season in Wellington.