British comedian Sam Nicoresti has won the award for Best Comedy Show at the Edinburgh Fringe – the first transgender person to win the award.

Nicoresti took the accolade for the show Baby Doomer, which explores life as a trans woman.

Ayoade Bamgboye won the award for best newcomer for her show Swings and Roundabouts while the Victoria Wood award went to Comedy Club 4 Kids.

This is the first year the Fringe has scrapped the annual award for funniest joke – a mainstay of the festival for the best part of two decades.

The esteemed but separate Edinburgh Comedy Awards main prize recognises the best performance and routine overall each year.

It launched in 1981 and takes credit for helping establish the careers of modern comedy greats.

Nicoresti took the award and a prize of £10,000 in a shortlist described as the “stars of tomorrow”.

The Guardian awarded the show Baby Doomer four stars, calling it “an ebullient hour with a sky-high joke count”.

Meanwhile Bamgboye’s show Swings and Roundabouts, which draws on her move to the UK from Nigeria, has been described as a “thrilling debut”.

Nica Burns, director of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, said the winners capture the spirit of modern comedy – “bold, brilliant, and deeply connected to audiences”.

She said: “Sam Nicoresti’s Baby Doomer is a masterfully woven, polished and delightfully human show that captures an essential moment with, to paraphrase her words, laughs by the seconds.

“Ayoade Bamgboye’s debut hour is electric, constantly keeping you on your toes.

“What begins as an everyday anecdote about the Co-Op unfolds into a rich, often surreal world, layered with profound emotional depth. She delivers it all with remarkable charisma and presence. Ayoade has a brilliant future ahead of her.”

The Edinburgh Comedy Awards is in its 45th year.

Prevous winners include Stephen Fry, Steve Coogan, Lee Evans, Al Murray, Sarah Millican, Omid Djalili, Eddie Izzard, Tim Minchin, The League of Gentlemen, Jenny Eclair and Frank Skinner.