Comedian Ed Byrne to host The Jameson Empire Awards 2013

Celebrating its 18th year, The Jameson Empire Awards will be hosted by popular Irish comedian Ed Byrne.

This will be Byrne’s debut presenting the Awards, which will be held in London on Sunday March 24 and attended by a multitude of star guests from the world of film, all eager to find out if the public have voted for them.

An internationally renowned observational stand-up who is widely known for his appearances on TV panel shows Mock The Week and Have I Got News For You, Byrne promises to inject his unique Irish wit and charm to the annual film awards event. A regular on the UK and Ireland comedy circuit, Byrne has also played at most major international comedy festivals. His next tour, Roaring Forties, kicks off with a full run at the Edinburgh festival (at the EICC) and he will then embark on a full national tour ending in Spring 2014. A regular filmgoer himself, Byrne deftly comments: “I can’t wait to host an awards show run by Empire - a magazine that I actually read, and sponsored by Jameson – a whiskey that I actually drink!”

Open voting is still open for The Jameson Empire Awards – the biggest film awards in the UK to be voted for entirely by the cinemagoing public, who can vote for any film they have seen and enjoyed in the year ending January 25, 2013. Film fans can vote for a variety of categories including: Best Male and Female Newcomer, Best Film (presented by Sky Movies), Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy, The Art Of 3D (presented by RealD), Best Comedy (presented by Magic 105.4), Best British Film, Best Actress (presented by Citroën) and the annual Jameson Best Actor award.

To see the full list of categories and to cast your vote, visit: www.empireonline.com/awards2013.

There are just three days left for the public to cast open votes across all categories before the deadline of Wednesday, February 27. The shortlisted nominees will then be announced on Friday, March 1, with all categories then open to a final round of public voting to determine the winners, who will be announced at the star-studded ceremony on Sunday March 24.

Empire’s Editor-In-Chief Mark Dinning comments: “We are over the moon that this year's Jameson Empire Awards will be hosted by the brilliant Ed Byrne. All of us at Empire are huge fans of Ed's, whether he's delivering super-smart stand-up, being a team captain on Mock The Week, surviving the madness of Graham Norton's sofa or just taking the mickey out of eternal miseryguts Alanis Morissette. More important than all of that, though, Ed is a massive film fan, who knows his Batmans and Robins from his Batman & Robin, and who will therefore be a perfect fit for an event that at least takes its subject, if not always itself, very seriously indeed.”