Coors Light will host The Rockies Award at The Kilkenny Cat Laughs Comedy Festival this June bank holiday weekend. The Rockies Award is a chance for up-and-coming comedians, who have their eyes set on this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, to put their comedic skills to the test. For the first time, these comedians will try out their material in front of expert judges and an audience vote for the chance to win The Rockies Award.

This year’s six competitors include sketch comedy duo EGG; viral sketch video sensations Just These, Please; BBC New Comedy Award 2018 and Scottish Comedian of the Year winner, Stephen Buchanan; Funny Women finalist Abigoliah Schamaun; and hilarious home grown comics, Ruth Hunter and Shane Daniel Byrne.

Each comedian will be assigned a Rockies Mentor, an established comedian who has cut their teeth at Cat Laughs and Edinburgh before, to see their performances, give them notes and offer advice. Previous mentors have included the likes of Colin Murphy, Andrew Maxwell and Panti Bliss.

Each Rockie act will preview their hour-long solo show in different venues across the weekend before coming together and going head-to-head with their tightest material at The Rockies final in The Left Bank on Sunday night. Two finalists, chosen by a panel of expert judges, will be put to an audience vote. Last year’s acts Maisie Adam and Sara Barron went on to be nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Tommy Tiernan, Dylan Moran, Dara O’Briain, Alison Spittle, David O’Doherty, Jason Byrne, Joanne McNally and Ed Byrne are among the acts set to take to the Kilkenny Cats Laughs stage this year, as the comedy festival celebrates its silver jubilee.

For more information and tickets to The Rockies Final, see the Cat Laughs website.