Community radio station sponsors new Nottingham Joke of the Festival Award
Following the success of the Takeover Radio 106.9FM ISH Joke of the Fringe 2025 award in the summer, the youth community radio station based in Ashfield in north Nottinghamshire will be running the first Takeover Radio 106.9FM NCF Joke of the Festival Award at the upcoming Nottingham Comedy Festival.
The support reflects the station’s aim to raise awareness of the opportunities for young people across the community to engage in the arts.
Helen Stead, Nottingham Comedy Festival organiser, said: “In the year when we are launching our first dedicated programme of Kids Comedy Shows as part of the Nottingham Comedy Festival we are especially delighted that Takeover Radio, as our local youth radio station, is supporting our first joke of the festival award – the Takeover Radio 106.9FM NCF Joke of the Festival Award.
The award will be open to every one of the acts performing at this year’s festival, from brand new acts to top established names. In addition to a prize of £106.90 and a free entry to next year’s festival, the station is also giving all our acts the opportunity to advertise their shows on the radio free of charge. “
Nick Mellors, a volunteer with Takeover Radio 106.9FM who will be running this year’s Nottingham award as well as producing some special shows from the festival said, “We believe there is no reason why young people from our working class and left behind communities across the country should not have the same opportunities to enjoy and take part in the arts.
With funding from local business Innovation Nottinghamshire, we’re therefore delighted to be able to support the wonderful Nottingham Comedy Festival as it brings great and innovative comedy to our county, from TV names like Glenn Moore and Ashfield’s own Jacob Nussey to lesser known surreal and alternative performers. We hope the award will continue to showcase the awesome creative talent we have across the area and to show that communities like ours can take part and hopefully inspire others to go for it and show that ‘people like us can do stuff like this from places like ours’ “
Returning for its 17th year, the Nottingham Comedy Festival will run from 31 October to 9 November in venues all across the city – the full line up and tickets can be found at https://www.nottinghamcomedyfestival.co.uk/2025-line-up .