Fringe Society announces winner of award for young critics

Róisin McMullan | Contributed

As a recipient of the prize, McMullan will receive one-to-one mentoring from arts writers at the Scotsman, followed by paid work as part of the paper’s review team for the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Established in 2018 to encourage the next generation of arts writers at the Fringe, the Fringe Young Writers Award is open to anyone aged 16-21, submitting work either published or unpublished.

Flora Gosling won the inaugural award, joining the paper's review team in the summer of 2019. Due to the pandemic, the 2019 award-winner Ariane Branigan was unable to join the review team in 2020 or 2021, but contributed reviews to The Scotsman in August 2022. Suzanne O'Brien and Katie Kirkpatrick then won the award in 2022 and 2023.

Shona McCarthy, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: “We are always delighted to support the return of the Young Fringe Writers Award. The Fringe is a wonderful opportunity for writers to learn and develop at the very start of their career, and this award gives us the opportunity to support and encourage emerging writers. Congratulations to Róisin on receiving the 2024 award and we look forward to following her career and hope to welcome her back to the Fringe in the future. Thank you to the Scotsman team for supporting Róisin over the coming months.”

Scotsman editor Alan Young said: "Many congratulations to Róisin on becoming the latest winner of the Fringe Young Writers Award, an initiative we are delighted to support in fostering the next generation of arts writers. I look forward to seeing her work next year and welcoming her into The Scotsman's review team."

Currently studying towards a BA Joint Honors in Theatre and English Literature at Lancaster University, McMullan impressed judges at the Fringe Society with her reviews of three Fringe shows for edfringereview.com, a student-run reviewing organisation that focuses on amateur, free and student theatre on the Fringe.

Commenting on her win, McMullan said: "It was a privilege to review at this year's Fringe, and to be awarded for the work I completed there means a great deal. In an industry that often feels extremely exclusive, I am so grateful to be given a voice and an opportunity. I am filled with hope for a future career in arts journalism and I am extremely excited to hone my craft with support from The Scotsman."

For more information on the award, visit www.edfringe.com/take-part/awards/journalism