Two Worcestershire comedians have been nominated for a prestigious 'breaking talent' award.

Worcester's Lin Smith and Kidderminster's Rich Spalding, along with four other acts from the West Midlands, have been shortlisted for this year's Birmingham Comedy Festival Breaking Talent Award 2024.

The award, a collaboration between the festival and The Glee Club Birmingham, was introduced in 2014 to celebrate rising talent from the region.

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Lin Smith made her stand-up debut five years ago, at The Firefly's ComedyJAM night in Worcester, which she went on to oversee in 2021.

Describing herself as a "recovering musical comic", she says her comedy is "offensively fast, lightly fruity, powerfully erratic", and draws inspiration from several comedic figures such as Julia Davis, Emo Philips, Diane Morgan and Reeves and Mortimer.

Rich Spalding, a Kidderminster native who later moved to East London, is also well known for co-hosting the podcast Our Dads Died.

He highlighted his personal milestones in stand-up comedy as "winning the Panel Prize at the Beat the Frog World Series Final 2022 [in Manchester] and making my Edinburgh Fringe debut at the Pleasance Courtyard this year".

This year's other shortlisted acts are Dom Bant, Caleb James, Tom Towelling and Gareth Williams.

A spokesperson for the festival said: "When we first discussed starting this award, we did fleetingly wonder if we might run out of acts.

"But 10 years later, such a thought seems utterly ridiculous, as the region continues to be a home to so many talented comedians, whose inventiveness, charisma and originality continues to inspire newcomers."

The Birmingham Comedy Festival is a ten-day event running from Friday 4 to Sunday, October 13.

The festival will feature headlining appearances from renowned comedians, Sarah Millican, Milton Jones, Rachel Parris, George Lewis, Richard Blackwood and more.

For more information, tickets or a programme, visit www.bhamcomfest.co.uk.

This year's award night will be held at The Glee, on Thursday, October 10.

Award-winning comedian, writer and spoken word artist Sarah Callaghan, who holds a previous award in her own right, will close the night, which will be livestreamed via NextUp Comedy.