“Okay, it’s art but is it fresh?”

An anonymous jury has been tasked with answering this question in relation to each of the 103 productions taking place at this year’s 13 Cape Town Fringe venues across the peninsula – and then nominating the latest crop of Fringe FRESH Awards contenders.

“The Cape Town Fringe FRESH Awards celebrate and recognise  stand-out performances and creativity,” explains Executive Producer Ashraf Johaardien.

“We keep the award’s panellists a secret until the winners are announced so that artists can get on with their craft without worrying about who is in the audience,” he adds.

The panel is made up of theatre makers, critics and other experts drawn from across the arts and culture spectrum.

This year  awards will be made across five categories:

• FRESHEST Show Award: Best overall production at the Fringe
• FRESH Performer Award: Stand-out performance by an artist in any genre (music, dance, comedy, illusion, etc)
• FRESH Creative Award: Outstanding arts practitioner making and realising work in any genre (producer, writer, composer, designer, choreographer, etc)
• FRESH Spirit Award: An artist or arts organisation working in any genre whose work embodies the spirit of Cape Town
• FRESH Audience Award: Most popular production based on proportional ticket sales, audience feedback and social media engagement/endorsement

The winners in all five of the Fringe FRESH Award categories will be announced at the close of the Fringe in October.

Updated: 27 September 2017 to reflect final changes to categories and award names