Sydney May Wins Komedia New Comedy Award 2025

Photo: (L-R) Wes Defoe, Sydney May, Aiden Lonergan (c) James Ennis Photography

The final, headlined by 2024 winner Andrew Fox, saw fierce competition from runners up Aiden Lonergan – a wickedly funny set full of unexpected twists, and the high energy and uproarious Wes Defoe.

Other finalists included Rachel Quinn, Prateek Kohli, Donna Williams, Emma Cohen, Stanley MacDonald and Eli Hart.

Sydney becomes the fourth person to win the prestigious award with past winners including Michael Akadiri, Sam Williams and Andrew Fox. She wins a bespoke award, a spot at Chortle award-winning Comic Boom comedy club at Komedia, and a bottle of fizz.

Jill Edwards of Comic Boom comedy club said, “I was delighted with the variety of exciting fresh new comic voices in the Final, which is exactly what I’m looking for with Comic Boom. You’ll be seeing Sydney May performing there soon.”

“That was incredible. Everyone was strong on the Grand Final bill and did themselves proud, and I’m utterly chuffed that Brighton act Sydney May knocked it out of the park – comedically speaking – to scoop the top win.” says Victoria Nangle.

“A night to remember … We’re still buzzing from the final of the Komedia New Comedy Award. A fantastic line-up of truly exciting new talent graced our stage. Every one of the finalists deserves highest praise for their brilliant performance. As hard as it was to pick a winner, massive congratulations go to winner Sydney May and runners up Aiden Lonergan & Wes Defoe. Huge thanks to Jill Edwards and Vicky Nangle who ran a brilliant and flawless competition, making Komedia proud to deliver a night of high-quality comedy newcomers.” says Komedia co-founder Marina Kobler.

The judges on the night included Victoria Nangle (Arts Journalist), Marina Kobler (Komedia Founder), Misti Heslop (Komedia), Bruce Dessau (Beyond the Joke), Steve Bennett (Chortle) and Tasha Dhanraj (Comedy Writer).

Marina Kobler, Jill Edwards and Victoria Nangle came together in 2020 to create this award and have been delighted to see it grow and attract new comedic talent each year. The aim of the Komedia New Comedy Award continues to be to discover and support exciting new comics, and to offer opportunities for development.

The award is open every year to comedians who have been gigging regularly for less than three years and have not won any major comedy competitions.