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About

About The Golden Gibbo Award

Lynda Gibson died on January 2, 2004 after a long battle with cancer. Lynda (aka Gibbo/Gib) had for many years been an integral part of the Melbourne Comedy scene, having performed in and around every Melbourne Comedy Festival since 1987. Lynda was a stand-up comedian who never stood still and whose left wing politics and keen sense of social justice were never hidden. Her physicality was a measure of her commitment and as a performer she threw herself (literally) at her work.

The Golden Gibbo award is $3,500 cash plus the Golden Gibbo statue which looks suspiciously like a bottle of shitty red wine. The award is funded every year by money raised by the Moosehead Benefit. Lynda’s contribution and spirit is acknowledged every year by the Melbourne comedy community through the Golden Gibbo.

THE GOLDEN GIBBO SEEKS TO FIND THE SHOW IN THE COMEDY FESTIVAL THAT BEST CAPTURES THE SPIRIT OF LYNDA’S WORK. TO THAT END THE QUALITIES OF THE GOLDEN GIBBO AWARD WINNER WILL BE:

INDEPENDENT
a) In Spirit – a show that bucks trends and pursues the artist’s ideas more strongly than it pursues any commercial lure.
b) Literally – an independently produced show, not one produced by a management company, production entity or commercial producer or the recipient of grant funding.

LOCAL
This is an award for shows from Australia and New Zealand.

ADVENTUROUS
It must be more than a stand up show – it doesn’t mean it needs to be theatre, it just needs to use a few more skills from the performer’s tool box than talking.

ORIGINAL
The work needs to be original to the creative team producing the show.

A NEW WORK
As defined in item 6 of the Eligibility Criteria.

In addition to the above it wouldn’t hurt if the show displayed a social awareness and social conscience. This does not mean that the show needs to be satirical.

The winning show does not need to be a raging commercial success, a noble failure would probably fit the bill just fine. This is an award for artists who extend themselves and comedy as an artform and take themselves and their audiences to places they may never have been.