Jo Brand has been confirmed as the host of the Charity Awards 2010, taking place on 10 June at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

Brand, who is listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, has been a regular panellist on the TV comedy quiz show circuit for some years now. But her diverse appeal means she is also invited to take part in the likes of Question Time and Countdown.

She was originally a psychiatric nurse but left that in 1987 to pursue a comedy career and landed her first gig on the Saturday Live television show.

In 1993 she became a resident panellist, along with Tony Hawks, on BBC monologue show The Brain Drain. This was followed by the series Through the Cakehole and All the Way to Worcester and a raft of epnonymous TV shows including Jo Brand's Rudest Home Videos.

She has taken part in Comic Relief does Fame Academy,  Comic Relief Does The Apprentice, and Let’s Dance for Comic Relief, where she danced as Britney Spears and reached the final.

Last year Brand wrote and starred in Getting On, a sitcom  partly inspired by her earlier career in nursing, which has been commisioned for a second series to begin filming in 2010.

A critically acclaimed writer, Brand has written several books including A Load Of Old Balls and A Load Of Old Ball Crunchers, It’s Different For Girls, and her autobiography Look Back In Hunger.

At the 11th Charity Awards, Brand will be joined by broadcaster Jon Snow, the face of Channel 4 News for over 20 years, and Oxo mum and actress Lynda Bellingham, both of whom will present Charity Awards to winners on the night.

Other celebrities handing out awards include Nick Hewer, Sir Alan Sugar’s right-hand man on The Apprentice;  BBC presenters Emily Maitlis and Eddie Mair; journalist Toby Young and actors Peter Bowles, Greta Scacchi and Helen Lederer.

The deadline for nominations to the Charity Awards 2010 has now closed and judging begins this week. For more details on the Charity Awards see www.charityawards.co.uk.