Thank you for casting a ballot for the 2021 Philly Fringies! Dont forget to vote after each 2021 Fringe Festival show you see!

Weekly Picks will be announced each wee of the festival and Overall Winners will be announced after the festival closes! Keep an eye out on FringeArts social media and joined our mailing list for Philly Fringies updates!

What are the Philly Fringies? 

The Philly Fringies are the Philadelphia Fringe Festival’s audience choice awards for Independent Artists. The Fringies are a fun way to encourage audiences to attend more independently produced festival performances and engage more deeply with the festival and it’s artists. 

Which shows are eligible to participate?

Only Independent Artists who register their shows in the Fringe Festival are eligible to participate in the awards. No FringeArts curated shows are eligible for Philly Fringies. 

Participation is absolutely optional for artists and they may opt out of participation at any time. 

Who votes and how? 

Audiences who purchase tickets or RSVP to an event and attend will be given a link to the show’s unique ballot. Links are sent to ticket buyers in Know Before You Go’s which they receive before the show prompting them to vote after the performance. QR codes that link directly to the ballot may also be displayed on site at in person performances. 

What are the award Categories? 

There are 9 categories that performances compete in. The category a show is competing in is based on where they are placed in the festival guide or what we call the “main category”.

The 2021 Fringies Categories are: 

Philly Fringies Circus

Philly Fringies Comedy & Improv

Philly Fringies Dance

Philly Fringies Film

Philly Fringies Interactive/Immersive Experience

Philly Fringies Music

Philly Fringies Theatre 

Philly Fringies Visual Art/Installations 

Philly Fringies Interdisciplinary

Each week of the festival, front runners in each category are announced and called the Fringies Weekly Pick! Once the festival closes and all of the ballots are counted, overall winners will be officially announced on FringeArts platforms. 

The audience member that attends and votes on the most shows will also be featured and win a small prize!

How are the winners calculated and picked?

In order to have a fair playing field, winners in each category are based on AVERAGE audience score, not on total number of votes. This is because each show in the festival has vastly different audience capacities and amounts of performances, meaning that the number of potential voters is wildly different for each ballot. 

A show only qualifies for a Fringie if they receive 15 or more ballots. This prevents a show with a single 5 star ballot sweeping a category and gives a better sense of general audience feedback. Artists should encourage their audiences to vote so they can hit the qualifying threshold!

Are show’s scores public? 

NO! Only winners and front runners will be announced but not their score. Artists can request their scores from FringeArts, but these will not be shared publicly at all.