Edinburgh Festival Day 1: Theatre Award

The annual Independent Theatre Award, established in 1988, honours an excellent new production on the Fringe and gives recognition and practical assistance to the winning show in the form of a London showcase at the highly regarded Hampstead Theatre. Previous winners have been Cambridge Youth Theatre, the Snarling Beasties, Oxygen House, the National Student Theatre Company, Fifth Estate and Clyde Unity theatre company. There will be two shortlists published in the Independent at the end of the first and second weeks of the festival, and the winner will be announced in the third week.