Nottinghamshire performers and venues feature strongly in the finals of this year’s Midlands Comedy Awards, with a total of twelve nominations across ten categories. It’s a big haul for the county that plays host to one of the country’s most popular annual comedy festivals.

Mansfield’s FAF Comedy, which runs seven comedy shows in Nottinghamshire, is nominated for the Best Small Club award, along with Nottingham-based Funhouse Comedy. Meanwhile, the monthly comedy show run at Nottingham’s Canal House by NCF – who also organize the Nottingham Comedy Festival – is recognized in the Best Open Mic Show category.

Nottingham comedians Scott Bennett and Patrick Draper have two nominations each, and are finalists in the Best Act category for the second year running.

Stapleford’s Barry Dodds, one of the country’s most popular and experienced comedy comperes, is nominated for Best MC. While Jon Pearson from Sutton-in-Ashfield is nominated in the Best Comedy Show category, where he will battle it out with Bennett’s critically acclaimed “About A Roy”.

The Best Comedy Club section, which recognises the greatest comedy venues across the region, is dominated by Nottingham with the Playhouse Theatre going head-to-head against The Glee Club and Just The Tonic.

Previously, the Midlands Comedy Awards have been dominated by the Birmingham and Black Country region, with a much smaller representation for East Midlands comedians and comedy clubs. However, this year’s awards have seen a huge increase in nominations for Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.

Double-nominee Scott Bennett said: “The comedy scene in the Midlands is currently going from strength to strength. There is a rich and diverse range of comedy talent and well promoted, well attended comedy clubs that offer every genre of live comedy. It’s a great privilege to be nominated amongst such talented people and because the nomination has come from respected promoters, it feels like I am making theright steps with my comedy career.”

Best MC finalist, Barry Dodds, commented: “I’m thrilled to have been nominated in these awards, it’s a very strong list of nominees and it’s truly flattering to be listed in such fine company. Comedy in the Midlands is flourishing with so many great clubs and fantastic acts and these awardshelp further spread the word about the good work being done by comedians and promoters in the region.”

SpikyMike, who runs shows at more than 30 venues across region, added: “I’m thrilled that Funhouse Comedy has been nominated in these awards. We have been running comedy shows in numerous venues across the region since 2002 and had the likes of Sarah Millican, Rhod Gilbert and even Jasper Carrott in our small clubs over that time, as well as supporting lots of new local comedians starting out.”

Elliott Bower, from Nottingham Comedy Festival, who runs the Canal House show: “I’m delighted that NCF’s Canal Couse has show been nominated for the Best Open Mic Club this year. It’s wonderful to see people wanting to come back and either try out new material or having newer acts I’ve discovered on the circuit given the opportunity to perform in front of a lovely crowd. It’s also really nice that so many Nottingham acts are up for awards this year as the local talent has really progressed and it’s the local comedy clubs that have helped them to achieve that.”

Jon Pearson, who’s up for the Best Show gong, said: “It’s great that Nottinghamshire is so heavily represented in the Midlands Comedy Awards. Having lived in pretty much every region of the Midlands, it’s great that the comedy scene is so full of life. It’s obviously a great honour to be nominated for Best Show, which I am still performing!”

Voting for the Midlands Comedy Awards 2015 is open until the end of the year, and members of the public can take part by visiting www.midlandscomedy.org/vote

The winners will be announced at an Awards Ceremony in Birmingham on Wednesday, 20th January.