Gold Announces ird Annual Modern Christmas Crackers Competition

Tuesday 6th October Wordsters and wits are challenged to update the traditional Christmas cracker joke for 2015

Best jokes will feature in bespoke sets of crackers

Funniest seasonal joke wins £1500 worth of holiday vouchers

Festive hamper and a box of Gold crackers for 9 runners-up

The festive funnies are back as a national competition to find the best modern Christmas cracker jokes is launched today by UKTV channel Gold, in a bid to get the UK roaring with laughter over the holiday season for the third year running.

Last years competition garnered hundreds of entries, with contemporary corker What will be missing from Take Thats Christmas stocking this year? An Orange, crowned the winner for its seasonal pun about Jason Oranges departure from the superstar boy band. The year before, Miley Cyrus was the centre of attention with, What does Miley Cyrus have at Christmas? Twerky. TV channel Gold is once again searching for the best modern festive jokes that put a comedy twist on the current news agenda and pop culture trends, to keep the laughter fresh this festive season.

Britons will pull an incredible 300?million crackers on Christmas day and Golds mission is to keep the groan count low with fresh seasonal gags. The competition invites wordsmiths and wits to submit their new, original and funny seasonal jokes via Twitter and is open until 11:59pm on Tuesday 27th October 2015. The winner will receive holiday vouchers worth £1,500 alongside the chance to be treated like a member of the royal family by having their own personalised Christmas crackers ready to pull on the big day!

With the success of Golds Christmas Cracker competition over the past two years, the chance to carry on the festive cheer by once again giving cracker jokes a 21st Century makeover, is one not to be missed. Looking back at the events of 2015, there is plenty of opportunity for topical, fun and original content to be showcased by witty writers. And with entries made via Twitter, all gags must be within 140 characters - short and snappy as a cracker joke should be!

HOW TO ENTER Open to all UK residents aged 18 and over, to enter please:

Tweet a Christmas-themed joke via your personal Twitter account including the hashtag #GoldCrackers

Gold is looking for modern festive jokes that put a comedy twist on the current news agenda or pop culture phenomenon

Must be original content and suitable for a family audience

The joke entry must not be more than 140 characters, including the hashtag #GoldCrackers

Multiple entries are allowed

Follow @GoldTVChannel (so we can notify the winners) - but the @GoldTVChannel twitter handle does not need to be included in the joke entry

For further information on the terms and conditions, please visit the Gold website. The competition opens on Tuesday 6th October 2015 at 9am and will close on Tuesday 27th October 2015 at 11:59pm.

The best jokes will be shortlisted by a comedy panel led by Bruce Dessau, Comedy Critic at the Evening Standard and Editor of comedy website, beyondthejoke.co.uk, and then put to a public vote - with the top ten winning jokes being announced in December.

Bruce Dessau said,

Legend has it that Napoleon once said we are a nation of shopkeepers, but if he was alive today, I think he would definitely say we are a nation of jokers - it really does feel as if everyone is a comedian! My Twitter feed is always being swamped with quick-fire gags to brighten my day. Im looking forward to seeing what zingers people come up with this year for Golds latest Christmas Crackers competition. From politics to showbiz there is certainly no shortage of inspiration out there. So keep it funny, keep it snappy and please keep it clean!

Steve North, General Manager of Gold said,

Last years jokes were certainly crackers, and were looking forward to seeing what festive puns are entered this year. Looking back at the headlines of 2015, there are already plenty of big moments or funny fails that could lend themselves perfectly to the Christmas cracker joke treatment.

The entrants who supply the top ten jokes will get their own set of bespoke Gold crackers featuring a selection of the winning jokes. The writer of the top joke will win £1,500 worth of holiday vouchers and a box of bespoke Gold Christmas crackers with their winning joke included, making this an unforgettable Christmas. The nine runners-up will each receive a festive hamper of assorted food and drinks, and a box of bespoke Gold Christmas crackers, which include the top six winning jokes.

For full T&Cs: gold.uktv.co.uk

Further information please contact AB@taylorherring.com or CH@taylorherring.com

Taylor Herring Public Relations 0208 2065151

Notes to Editors

About Gold (Sky 110, Virgin 126, TalkTalk 408, Top-Up TV 20) Dedicated to celebrating the best of British comedy, Gold is the nations favourite comedy channel. Much-loved comedy series such as Only Fools and Horses, The Vicar of Dibley and Outnumbered sit alongside successful commissions including Porridge: Inside Out, The Comic Strip Presents: Five Go To Rehab (starring Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders), You, Me and Them, Bring Me Morecambe and Wise, Monty Python Live (mostly): One Down Five to Go and the ultimate Python documentary Monty Python: The Meaning of Live. The perfect tonic to make you laugh whatever the time of day, Gold shows universally funny content that everyone can enjoy.

gold.uktv.co.uk

About UKTV UKTV is the multi-award-winning media company that reaches over 42 million viewers every month.

UKTVs eleven imaginative brands - UKTV Play, Dave, Watch, Gold, Alibi, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home, Eden and Good Food - include the most popular non-PSB channel in the UK and account for 9% of the British commercial TV market. The companys most recent financial results showed record-breaking year-end revenue of £278m, and EBITDA of £67

LINK:	http://corporate.uktv.co.uk/news/article/gold-announces-third-annual-m...
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