Uk Festival Awards

UK Festival Awards Reveals 2022 Winners

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Held on 6 December at Manchester’s Escape to Freight Island, the long-anticipated return of the UK Festival Awards provided an ideal opportunity for a sold out audience of festival organisers, suppliers and the wider live entertainment industry to get together and reflect on the past season while looking forward to the next. 

The awards were decided by either fan votes or judges’ verdicts in categories including Best Major Festival, Outstanding Contribution and, for this year only, the Positively Perfect Pivot Award – which acknowledges the festival business that applied its skills to alternative activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The award for Outstanding Contribution to Festivals was handed to two winners this year; the AFO General Secretary, Steve Heap and the former CEO of the AIF, Paul Reed. In presenting the award, event sponsor Ticketmaster’s VP of Music and Festivals said of Steve, now a 2 time winner of the accolade: ‘his determined work throughout the pandemic, when he should’ve been looking forward to his retirement, could not go unnoticed.’ and of Paul she said “He transformed the organisation and through extensive lobbying won several key battles for independent festivals. His leadership was never more prominent than during the pandemic”

The list of winners:

Exit Festival/NFT-TiX, The Innovation Award, sponsored by Festival Insights

Parklife, Marketing Campaign of the Year, sponsored by Ratcat

Back 2 Festival, The Positively Perfect Pivot Award, sponsored by The Loop

Beat the Streets, The Sarah Nulty Community Impact Award, sponsored by Universe

Mighty Hoopla/Vodafone, The Brand Activation Award, sponsored by CGA By NielsenIQ

Altitude Comedy Festival, Best Overseas Festival, sponsored by Camden Town Brewery

Mighty Dub Fest, Best Non-Music Festival, sponsored by Get Comedy

Sound City, Best Metropolitan Festival, sponsored by Mustard Media

3 Wishes Fairy Festival, The Grassroots Festival Award, sponsored by Last Night a DJ Saved My Life

Green Gathering, The UK Greener Festival Award, sponsored by A Greener Festival

The Great Escape, Best Festival for Emerging Talent, sponsored by TikTok

Teddy Rocks, Best Family Festival, sponsored by Event Traffic Control

RADAR Festival, Best New Festival, sponsored by ID&C

bluedot, Line-Up of the Year, sponsored by Riot

Boomtown, Best Festival Production, sponsored by TPi Magazine

Black Deer, Promoter of the Year, sponsored by Production Futures

Woo Fest, Best Small Festival, sponsored by We Get Sponsors

2000 Trees, Best Medium Festival, sponsored by O’Donnell Moonshine

Manchester Pride, Best Large Festival, sponsored by Peppermint

Steve Heap, The Outstanding Contribution Award, sponsored by Ticketmaster

Paul Reed, The Outstanding Contribution Award

 

www.festivalawards.com

UK Festival Awards 17th Edition announces brand new location at Manchester Freight Island

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Nominations now open

www.festivalawards.com

UK Festival Awards 2022 announces new venue and Ticketmaster as Official Ticketing Partner for its 17th Edition Festival Insights is proud and more than a little excited to announce the date and venue for the presentation of the 2022 UK Festival Awards, the only fully festival focussed awards that give fans the opportunity to vote for their favourite events.
To be held on 6th December at Manchester’s Freight Island, the event presents the ideal opportunity for festival organisers and suppliers to get together and reflect of the past season whilst looking forward to the next; the awards themselves will be decided by either fan votes, expert panel, or a combination of both in categories including Best Major Festival, Outstanding Contribution and, for one year only, the Perfect Pivot Award for the festival business that applied its skills to alternative activity during the Covid closure.
With awards ranging from grassroots to large and categories for family and non-music festivals, organisers Festival Insights are expecting record numbers of votes, with the public having the say in more awards categories than ever. Festivals can browse categories and enter at www.festivalawards.com
Andrew Parsons, Managing Director, Ticketmaster UK said: “We’re proud to partner with the UK Festival Awards for the fifth year running. Festivals are a cornerstone of UK culture and it’s so important we recognise the hardworking people behind the scenes who make them happen. Manchester is the perfect host city – home to so many artists, venues and teams central to the festival ecosystem.”  
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “Everyone in Greater Manchester knows the massive global impact this place has had on music and culture, so it’s fitting to see the UK Festival Awards coming to the true home of 24-hour party people.
“After what’s been an exceptionally tough time for festivals and the hospitality industry, it’s really important that we get behind the sector and recognise the many people – from organisers, to caterers, to volunteers – who deliver everything from boutique independent events to some of the biggest shows on earth. We can’t wait to welcome all of this year’s nominees to Manchester and celebrate their achievements with them.”
Sacha Lord, Night Time Economy Adviser for Greater Manchester said: “The UK Festival Awards is an annual highlight for the industry. Now in its 19th year, I’m absolutely delighted that they have chosen Manchester as this year’s host. A city that’s known for its rich tapestry of festivals, the acknowledgement is testament to everyone behind the scenes that make them happen. I look forward to attending, celebrating and throwing my full support behind it. Manchester is truly open”
Commenting on the move to Manchester, Festival Insight CEO, Andy Lenthall said: “Manchester’s rich cultural heritage, its vibrant festival scene and great selection of cool venues make it an ideal choice  for our first move out of the capital.”
Early bird tickets, priced £99 are on sale now, entries, voting and judging will open later in ugust.



UK Festival Award final shortlists announced

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The following shortlists were decided by the online public vote:
 
Best Major Festival
 
In association with: PlugGo
 
For festivals with a daily capacity of 40,000 or above. The giants of the festival scene playing host to the world’s biggest acts, tens of thousands of people and multiple arenas across sites that sprawl for acres. Like popup small cities, the largest festivals are a regular pilgrimage and a rite of passage for many. But which one is the best of the big daddies?
 

  • Bestival
  • British Summer Time Hyde Park
  • Creamfields
  • Download Festival
  • Glastonbury
  • GlobalGathering
  • Isle of Wight Festival
  • Reading & Leeds
  • Sonisphere Festival
  • T in the Park
  • V Festival
  • Wireless Festival

 
Last year’s winner: Download
 
Best Medium-Sized Festival
 
In association with: Eventbrite
 
For festivals with a daily capacity of 10,000 to 39,999. Not as large as the giants, but by no means in their shadow, these colourful and diverse events provide a more boutique feel, and a more intimate experience. Many start life much smaller, but have grown to this size due to their popularity. Some will keep expanding and join the ranks of the majors, others will settle happily into their niche and stay there. Who will pick up the prize this year?
 

  • Beautiful Days
  • Bloodstock Open Air
  • Boardmasters
  • Camp Bestival
  • Green Man
  • Kendal Calling
  • Latitude
  • Secret Garden Party
  • We Are FSTVL
  • Y Not Festival

 
Last year’s winner: Kendal Calling
Best Small Festival
 
Often quirky, due to a personal touch and grassroots appeal, the cosiness and sense of community at these festivals is second to none for many people. This award celebrates those who stick to the mantra that small is beautiful.
 

  • 2000trees
  • Barn on the Farm
  • Bearded Theory
  • Beat Herder
  • Brownstock Festival
  • Cambridge Folk Festival
  • Festival No.6
  • Jimmy's Sausage & Beer Festival
  • Leopallooza
  • Zoo Project Festival, The

 
Last year’s winner: Bearded Theory
 
Best New Festival
 
In association with: ID&C
 
Once again, some excellent new events were launched this year, bravely taking on those with established reputations. Bringing a fresh take, new music and alternative audiences to the festival scene, which one have you already put in your diary for next time?
 

  • Mutiny in the Park
  • No Tomorrow
  • OnBlackheath
  • Red Rooster
  • Rewind North
  • Secret Festival, The
  • Somersault Festival
  • Summer Sizzler
  • Together Festival
  • UKG Fest

 
Last year's winner: We Are FSTVL


Best Family Festival
 
Growing up doesn't mean you have to stop going to festivals – it just gives you a great opportunity to bring your kids! Every year, there seems to be more and more children at festivals, with increasingly impressive areas and facilities for kids reflecting this growth. Games, workshops, kid zones and activities for youngsters all combine to make their weekend a memorable one – and often a much easier one for mums and dads. Which festival was the most enjoyable for kids and parents this year?
 

  • British Summer Time Hyde Park
  • Beautiful Days
  • Camp Bestival
  • Eden Festival
  • Green Man
  • Jamie Oliver & Alex James present The Big Feastival
  • Kendal Calling
  • Latitude
  • Leopallooza
  • Victorious Festival

 
Last year’s winner: Camp Bestival
 
Best Metropolitan Festival
 
Using the existing infrastructure of a town’s venues, this sector is growing thanks to no need for camping, very little threat from the weather and the ability to take place at any time of the year. Sold either on a show-by-show basis, or an all encompassing wristband, they give people chance to see multiple acts in the comfort of the indoors. Which one had you ditching green fields for the concrete jungle?
 

  • Blackpool Music Festival
  • Dot to Dot
  • Fusion Festival
  • Great Escape, The
  • Live at Leeds
  • Liverpool Sound City
  • MADE Birmingham
  • Slam Dunk Festival
  • Tramlines
  • Whitby Goth Weekend

 
Last year’s winner: Dot To Dot
 


Best Dance Event
 
In association with: XL Video
 
Tribes have been gathering to dance in fields for millennia. More recently, growing numbers of events solely dedicated to electronic music have been forging a name for themselves as crowds look to dance the day – and night – away to everything from techno to trance and dubstep to house. Which one had you reaching for the lasers?
 

  • Beat Herder
  • Bestival
  • Creamfields
  • GlobalGathering
  • Lovebox
  • Mutiny in the park
  • South West Four
  • The Parklife Weekender
  • Tramlines
  • We Are FSTVL

 
Last year’s winner: Creamfields
 
The Grass Roots Festival Award
 
Often the best small festivals spring from an organic labour of love and a long-time dream which has been shared by thousands more. These festivals should be celebrated, not just for the courage, vision, commitment and often personal sacrifice invested by their organisers, but also because they never forget where they’ve come from, supporting their local communities and new music along the way while retaining an independent spirit and resisting commercial saturation. All hail the grass roots festivals and their creators!
 

  • 2000trees
  • Barn on the Farm
  • Beautiful Days
  • Bloodstock Open Air
  • Eden Festival
  • Green Man
  • In The Woods Festival
  • Jimmy's Sausage & Beer Festival
  • Leopallooza
  • Y Not Festival

 
Last year’s winner: 2000Trees
 


Best Overseas Festival
 
In association with: Yourope
 
Increasing numbers of Brits are heading abroad for their festival fix, choosing a different culture, new surroundings or sometimes just more reliable weather over home events. Some have become household names the world over for their international appeal and some even have more Brits in attendance than many homegrown medium sized festivals. Which one will be voted top by the fans?
 

  • Tomorrowland (Belgium)
  • Coachella (USA)
  • Benicassim (Spain)
  • Ibiza Rocks (Spain)
  • Outlook (Croatia)
  • Splendour In The Grass (Australia)
  • Rock am Ring/ Rock Im Park (Germany)
  • Wacken Open Air (Germany)
  • Pinkpop (The Netherlands)
  • Sonar (Spain)
  • Snowbombing (Austria)
  • NOS Alive – formerly Optimus Alive (Portugal)

 
Last year’s winner: Snowbombing (Austria) 
 
Best Toilets
 
Always one of the most talked-about issues at festivals, whether it’s pongy portable loos, the lingering longdrops or the unpleasant urinals, all festival toilets tang, but some more than others. Which festival boasted the cleanest cans and quickest queues?
 

  • Creamfields
  • Download Festival
  • End Of The Road
  • Kendal Calling
  • Larmer Tree Festival
  • Latitude
  • Reading & Leeds
  • Truck Festival
  • V Festival
  • We Are FSTVL

 
Last year’s winner: ArcTanGent
 


Headline Performance of the Year
 
In association with: SnoozeBox (curated by Gigwise)
 
A killer headline performance can be talked about for years to come, etched into musical history as one of those “I was there” moments. To succeed requires energy, musicianship, dedication, creativity and a fortuitous coming together of time and space. Some acts may be regulars on the festival circuit, but which one nailed it?
 

  • Arcade Fire at Glastonbury
  • Arctic Monkeys at Reading & Leeds
  • Biffy Clyro at T In The Park
  • Foals at Bestival
  • Kasabian at Glastonbury
  • The Killers at V Festival
  • The Libertines at British Summer Time
  • Linkin Park at Download
  • The Prodigy at Sonisphere
  • Metallica at Glastonbury
  • Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Isle Of Wight
  • Suede at Kendal Calling

 
Last year’s winner: Arctic Monkeys at Glastonbury
 
Best Breakthrough Artist
 
In association with: Last.fm (curated by Drowned In Sound)
 
New talent is the lifeblood of the festival scene and smaller events and stages are abound with fresh acts hoping to catch the ears of the masses of music-lovers, and secure their place on the road to becoming tomorrow’s headliners. This award celebrates the ones that managed to get the fans and critics to sit up and pay attention.
 

  • The 1975
  • Augustines
  • Blood Red Shoes
  • Catfish & The Bottlemen
  • Goat
  • Jagwar Ma
  • Royal Blood
  • Sophie Ellis-Bextor
  • The War on Drugs
  • Wolf Alice

 
Last year’s winner: Rudimental
 


Anthem of the Summer
 
In association with: Clash Magazine
 
The ultimate test of any song is how it’s received live – and there’s no better place than at festivals. While thousands of great records have been lapped up by millions over the summer, a few stood out as true classics, creating defining festival moments and were sung all the way back to the campsite. Which was your fave?
 

  • The 1975 – ‘Chocolate’
  • Arctic Monkeys – 'R U Mine'
  • Calvin Harris – ‘Summer’
  • Dolly Parton – ‘Jolene’
  • Hozier – ‘Take Me To Church’
  • Metallica – 'Whiskey In The Jar'
  • OutKast – ‘Ms Jackson’
  • Pharell Williams – 'Happy'
  • Royal Blood – 'Come On Over'
  • Sam Smith – ‘Stay With Me’

 
Last year’s winner: Daft Punk – ‘Get Lucky’
 
 
The following more specialist awards are decided by panels of industry experts:
 
Line-Up Of The Year
 
Picking the right bill will make or break a festival – no mean feat when there are hundreds of others trying to better you and a decreasing pool of established acts to bid on. Whether it’s about securing the biggest names in the world, putting together special collaborations, or just knowing what the audience wants, our judges are looking for the festival which displayed the most vision when booking acts.
 

  • Beacons Festival
  • Bestival
  • Creamfields
  • End Of The Road
  • Festival Number 6
  • Green Man
  • Latitude
  • Liverpool Music Week
  • Liverpool Sound City
  • Love Supreme Jazz Festival
  • Lovebox
  • OnBlackheath
  • Wireless

 
Last year’s winner: Latitude
 


Best Use of New Technology
 
In association with: White Light
 
Technological innovation is one of the strongest forces propelling the festival marketplace forward at this time. Whether it’s applied to help organisers forge closer relationships with their audiences outside the event or to enhance visitor experiences and operational efficiencies on-site, many new and groundbreaking tools are entering the market, and some of these will forever change the way that festivals are produced and experienced. This award recognises the individual application of new technology at a specific event that offers the greatest promise for the future of the market as a whole.
 
Bestival – For their fan ambassador scheme using an online platform provided by The Physical Network
 
Creamfields – For its epic live Youtube stream covering every stage of the festival
 
Eden Sessions – For their live global broadcast on Youtube delivered in association with Asus
 
Liverpool Sound City – For their iOS-integrated itinerary scheduling system
 
Lovebox – For their mobile audience engagement platform delivered in association with HTC using technology provided by Airbeem
 
The Parklife Weekender – For their revolutionary substance-analysis system supplied by The Loop and working with Greater Manchester Police
 
Salford Music Festival – For its smart, integrated ‘Event1’ event management system provided by 1SecureWeb
 
V Festival – For their ‘FanPic’ social engagement application, delivered in cooperation with Ticketmaster
 
Wireless Festival – For their smart visitor tracking system provided by Crowd Connected working with Eventbase
 
Y01 Festival – For its new queue-busting electronic access control system delivered by We Scan Tickets
 
Last year’s winner: Intelligent Venue Solutions on behalf of Barclaycard at Barclaycard British Summer Time (Hyde Park)
 


Agency of the Year
 
In association with: IQ Magazine
 
Recognising the booking agency responsible for making the greatest positive contribution to this summer’s festival content.
 

  • 13 Artists
  • CAA
  • CODA
  • Echo Location Talent Agency
  • ITB
  • K2
  • Primary
  • The Agency Group
  • WME
  • X-Ray

 
Last year’s winner: CODA
 
 
Concession of the Year
 
Food, drink, cash machines, merchandise: the essentials that keep festival-goers on their feet not only provide an essential source of income for festivals, but can also make a huge difference to the overall colour of an event. Concession staff are there day and night, rain or shine, with a smile and good humour, and this Award acknowledges the hard work they do and the importance of concession at festivals.
 

  • Ghandis Flip Flop
  • Gizzi Erskine's Chefs Club
  • Goodness Gracious Healthy Foods
  • Happy Maki Sushi
  • Hot Rocks Pizza
  • La Grande Bouffe
  • Lulu's Café
  • Mocha Mania
  • Paelleria
  • Smoke Stack

 
Last year’s winner: Strumpets With Crumpets
 


The Greener Festival Award
 
In association with: Bucks New University
 
The Red Kite mark is awarded by www.agreenerfestival.com on the basis of a questionnaire and where possible an environmental assessment. All festivals must demonstrate that they have coherent green policies promoting environmental efficiency and sustainability, including issues such as CO2 emissions, waste management and recycling. Which is the Greenest of them all?
 

  • BBC Hyde Park Proms
  • Cambridge Folk Festival
  • End of the Road
  • Glasgow 2014
  • Glastonbury Festival
  • Greenbelt
  • Nozstock: The Hidden Valley
  • Shambala Festival
  • T in the Park
  • Wood Festival

 
Last year’s winner: Shambala Festival
 
 
The Extra-Festival Activity Award
 
Music may be the vital heartbeat of all our festivals, but it’s often the “extras”, such as pop-up performances, mass participation games, quirky installations or just spectacular attention to detail which fill heads and cameras with memories that last a lifetime. There are so many unique and wonderful creative elements at festivals, but which one was extra special?
 

  • 3 Wishes Faery Fest
  • Beat Herder
  • Deerstock
  • Festival No.6
  • Secret Garden Party
  • Somersault
  • The Secret Festival
  • Victorious
  • Wilderness
  • Y Not/Truck/Brownstock

 
Last year’s winner: Wilderness
 


Promoter of the Year
 
In association with: Peppermint Bars
 
Recognising the festival organiser who has produced an outstanding event, overcome adversity, or truly gone above and beyond the call of duty and pulled something phenomenal out of the bag. There’s always at least one each year, often several so this one is often a very tough call for judges.
 

  • AMust4Music (Bloodstock)
  • Count Of Ten Group (Y Not, Truck, Brownstock, Hevy, Tramlines)
  • DF Concerts (T In The Park)
  • John Giddings and Solo (Isle Of Wight Festival)
  • Red Jelly Productions (Xstatic Summer Festival)
  • Rich Bryan (Bearded Theory)
  • Rob Star (Eastern Electrics)
  • Scott Barton (Creamfields)
  • The Zoo Project Festival Team
  • Vision Nine (Boardmasters, NASS)

 
Last year’s winner: Paddy Glasgow (Glasgowbury)
 
The Outstanding Contribution to Festivals Award
 
In association with: Intelligent Venue Solutions
 
Dedicated to an individual whose personal vision and energy has propelled the entire festival marketplace forward in a dynamic, creative and positive way.
 
Winner to be announced in due course.
 
Last year’s winner: Fiona Stewart (Green Man)