Rose Matafeo has won the prestigious Fred Award at this year's New Zealand International Comedy Festival.



The Kiwi comedy queen, best known as part of TV's Funny Girls ensemble, received the award at Sunday night's closing-night event Last Laughs at Auckland's SkyCity Theatre.



Named in honour of the late comedy icon John Clarke's legendary Kiwi character Fred Dagg, the Fred (a Golden Gumboot) was introduced in 2006 and recognises the festival's best show by a New Zealand comedian.



Look at these brilliant winners of comedy @Rose_Matafeo and @AngellaDravid pic.twitter.com/eSKggnM0qU

— Chris Parker (@crobker) May 21, 2017

READ MORE:

* NZ Comedy Fest Review: Rose Matafeo's Sassy Best Friend, Raybon Kan's Positive Pessimist

* Kiwi comedian Rose Matafeo tops list of 20 people to follow in Britain this year

* David Correos takes 2016 Billy T Award

Matafeo's show Sassy Best Friend, was inspired by her "favourite film heroes and her terrible taste in movies". It was billed as being about "friendship, finding yourself and giving up on your dreams". Stuff reviewer Bob Mason described it as a "chaotically entertaining melange of personal stories and random gags.. that was thought-provoking too".

The win continues a fantastic year for the 25-year-old. In January she was named by The Guardian newspaper as one of "20 Talents Set to Take 2017 by Storm", just after making an appearance on the prestigious UK panel show Have I Got News For You?

Meanwhile, Jono and Ben regular Angella Dravid has taken home the Golden Towel as this year's Billy T Award winner. First awarded in 1997, it recognises up-and-coming New Zealand comedians with outstanding potential. Dravid's first show 'LOL Models' (with Melanie Bracewell) was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2016 NZ International Comedy Festival. In 2015, she was awarded Best Newcomer and nominated for Best Gag of the Year at the NZ Comedy Guild Awards, and was a grand finalist in the NZ Raw Quest.

Her 2017 Comedy Fest show Down the Rabbit Hole was about a love story that went "really wrong".