Best joke at Fringe is short and sweet

Six nominees from more than 500 acts were this afternoon chosen to contest the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award.

The Fringe performers were named as Josie Long, Nick Helm, Sam Simmons, Andrew Maxwell, Adam Riches and Chris Ramsey.

Past winners include Steve Coogan, Frank Skinner and Lee Evans. Politics grabbed judges' attention, with shows addressing the state of the nation doing well.

This month's riots prompted Beckenham-born Long to change her act from "a funny, silly show" to one of "anger and politics".

London-based Maxwell also updated his show following the unrest. Helm and Riches like to involve their audience, while Sam Simmons is a surreal Australian and Chris Ramsey is a story-teller from South Shields. The winner of the £10,000 prize will be revealed on Saturday.

Londoner Helm won the best joke award: "I needed a password eight characters long so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

Last year's winner Tim Vine came second with: "Crime in multi-storey car parks. That is wrong on so many different levels."