Theatre company ThisEgg has won the inaugural Stepladder Award.
Founded by Josie Dale-Jones in 2010, the company's work uses storytelling, clowning, live music and movement to aiming to bring people together through theatre.
Its current production, Me and My Bee, which runs at the Edinburgh Fringe until 28 August, is a family friendly comedy about the way climate change is effecting the bee population, now in steep decline.
The Stepladder Award is presented by theatre company Les Enfants Terribles in collaboration with Farnham Maltings-based house, an enterprise aimed at furthering theatre in the South East, and in association with London venue Wilton’s Music Hall.
The Award will support emerging fringe theatre companies making original work with mentoring from Les Enfants Terribles who have also launched a crowdfunding campaign (with RADA) for a bursary that will support an individual without the financial means to attend drama school.
ThisEgg's Me and My Bee will play Wilton’s Music Hall later in the year. Les Enfants Terribles' The Terrible Infants plays Wilton’s Music Hall from 27 September to 28 October (suitable for all ages).