The Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award
The Tim Sims Encouragement Fund recognizes and supports promising comedic performers in the early stages of their careers.
The Tim Sims Encouragement Fund was founded by Lindsay Leese and established in 1995 in the spirit and memory of Tim Sims, a well-known comedic performer, writer, director, and charity fund-raiser from Toronto. The Toronto comedy community, Andrew Alexander and The Second City, friends of Tim and the annual fundraising showcases associated with the TSEF have raised the capital for the Fund. The interest generated by the capital makes up the annual cash award.
From 1996-2014, the Fund awarded prize money totaling $65,000 to young comedians in the early stages of their careers. The award was presented at the annual Cream of Comedy award show at Second City, which featured comedy performances by five outstanding jury-selected Tim Sims Award Nominees. The award was one of recognition and not designated for any purpose other than the recipient’s encouragement.
Beginning in 2015, the $2,500 award is given annually to a graduate of the Comedy Writing and Performance program at the Humber College, School of Creative and Performing Arts and until 2019, to a Conservatory Program Graduate at the Second City Training Program..
2026 Recipient
Humber Polytechnic’s Comedy Writing and Performance program
Arnab Sen
Arnab Sen is a Toronto-based writer and comedian and a recent honours graduate of Humber Polytechnic’s Comedy program where he earned multiple scholarships and awards.
Before pivoting to comedy, he spent over eight years working in marketing, advertising, and sales. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Master of Business from Queensland University of Technology. Globally raised, he lived in India, the U.A.E, Singapore, and Australia before moving to Canada in 2023.
Arnab regularly performs sketch, improv and stand-up at popular Toronto venues like Comedy Bar and Yuk Yuk’s. He is a member of the sketch troupe The Beta Chronicles and runs a satirical channel called Basement News TV. His writing has been published by Taste of Cinema and The Cinemaholic, and his comedy essays have appeared in Medium’s The Haven. His ultimate career goal is to produce his own TV pilot.
“I am incredibly honoured and flattered to win the Tim Sims Encouragement Award,” said Arnab Sen. “It was a huge risk to quit my full-time corporate job and move to Toronto to study Comedy but I am so happy I took the plunge. There are too many to list here but thank you to all my teachers at Humber for their selflessness and dedication to helping us students as well as to Lindsay Leese, and the Ontario Arts Foundation. This vote of confidence allows me to grow as a comic and greatly helps in me pursuing this career.”
Prize: $2,500
News Releases
Arnab Sen Awarded the Tim Sims Encouragement Award June 11, 2026