150 in the first 24 hours

More than 250 would-be comedians have applied for this year's Chortle Student Comedy Award.

There was only a small window of opportunity to enter this year’s event – the tenth – but hundreds applied over the four days before Sunday night’s deadline.

Heats start next week, with showcases in Cambridge on Monday February 18, Dublin on Wednesday February 20 and Newcastle on Thursday February 21 – see the student award microsite for details.

The applicants will be following in the footsteps of such previous contestants as Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal, Tom Deacon, Iain Stirling and Lloyd Langford, who all went on to great things after appearing in the competition.

This year's event is being produced with Alcatel One Touch, whose head of UK and Ireland marketing Tracey Hudson said: ‘Through this sponsorship we're really looking forward to helping Chortle uncover the next big comedy talent’.

We also have the support of Universal Pictures UK.

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Published: 6 Feb 2013