What is the history of the ECNY Awards?

The ECNY Awards, originally known as the Emerging Comics of New York Awards, were created in 2003 by Derek Gordon to celebrate the individuals and groups creating comedy in New York City. The production team, consisting of Kambri Crews, Jon Friedman, Carol Hartsell, Nate Sloan and Alex Zalban took over production of the awards in 2007, after a one-year hiatus. If you do the math, that means the awards are now in their seventh year.

What makes one eligible for an ECNY Award?

To be eligible you have to live most of the year in the New York City area and perform the majority of your shows or do most of your work in the region. Once you make your living in a particular category you are no longer eligible. That means that professional stand-up comedians can still be eligible in other categories, say as a member of an improv group that doesn’t generate enough income to support its members full time.

Why the change from “Emerging Comics of New York” to “ECNY?”

We feel that “Emerging” is too subjective a word. Careers take years to blossom. In the past, previous ECNY winners were no longer eligible in that category. Now, one can continue to be nominated until they are no longer eligible. For that reason, we have a new category, The Emerging Comic Award, which celebrates the individuals, duos and groups who have emerged within the past year and have contributed significant and consistent quality work to the New York comedy scene.

How are nominees chosen?

Good question. From November 23 – December 17, 2010, the general public is allowed to submit anyone in any category. Hundreds of names are submitted in each and every category, so we take that list to our hand-picked Industry Committee which consists of a broad spectrum of approximately 50 comedy professionals based in New York. These people live and breathe comedy: they manage theaters, they produce shows, they work in television, they run internet sites, they blog about us and review shows. The Industry Committee votes and the top vote getters become the nominees. Our awesome web designer created a cryptic voting program; none of the producers know how each Industry Committee member voted!

And how are winners chosen?

Voting on the official nominees will open up sometime around the beginning of February 2011. Until the first week of March, anyone can vote on our site, provided they have an email address. Also, our Industry Committee gets to vote one more time. Winners are determined by combining the percentages of the popular and Industry Commitee votes in each category.

Can anyone attend the awards show?

Absolutely. Tickets will be on sale in February.

I’m a nominee. Can I get free tickets to the show?

Of course. Email us at before March 1^st and we will guarantee a ticket for you. If you are part of a group that is nominated, we will arrange tickets for current members only. After March 3^rd you may have to buy them like the rest of the public.

Why can’t I get an extra free ticket for my date or friends? Are you guys really that cheap?

If we gave every nominee an extra ticket, we would run out of seats. Also, maintaining the awards costs money, and we depend on the revenue generated from ticket sales as most of our income.

I didn’t get nominated this year. How do I get nominated next year?

We are fortunate to be in a thriving, exciting and populous comedy community. The best way to get noticed is to do a lot of shows this year and be so awesome that it’s impossible for people to not know who you are.

I run a variety show. Can I book an all ECNY nominee show and call it an ECNY Showcase?

Absolutely. However, since our award show is at 92Y Tribeca make sure your venue allows your show to promote a show at another venue. We also ask that your website and promotional emails link to our site. If you want to get fancy, email us and we’ll send you our logo.