Fans will officially have their say on this year’s festival season as voting in the UK Festival Awards (UKFA) goes live tomorrow at festivalawards.com/vote.
UK festivals, from the smallest to the largest, will be hoping to be crowned the best of what this summer had to offer with gongs including Best New, Family and Dance festivals up for grabs. Artists are in the running too with all three Glastonbury headline acts - The Rolling Stones, Artic Monkeys and Mumford & Sons all eager to scoop the Headline Performance of the Year gong.
Winners in the tenth anniversary UK Festival Awards will be decided by those who know best, the festival-loving public, at a glitzy award ceremony at London’s legendary Roundhouse on Monday 2nd December 2013.
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the UK Festival Awards, organisers are set to stage an exhibition of festival poster artwork from festivals spanning the past decade, and are proud to announce that critically acclaimed contemporary artist Pete Fowler has been confirmed as curator of the exhibition. A selection of works will be on display at the Roundhouse and auctioned to raise money for Attitude is Everything, a charity which improves access to live music events for deaf and disabled people. Having previously designed album artwork for Super Furry Animals, Pete is no stranger to festivals through his art installations, including designing the stage for Clash Magazine at the Big Chill in 2010, DJ sets and appearances in ‘cosmic yacht rock duo’ Seahawks. To submit artwork from the last 10 years visit festivalawards.com/apply before October 21. Also making waves in festival fields this summer was an increasing use of technology, from contactless payments to integrated social media, a development that will be recognised in the UK Festival Awards’ new industry-judged category ‘Best Use of New Technology’.
The time has come for audiences to make a pledge to their favourite events and performers by casting their votes. 2012 saw over half a million votes cast and this year’s UK Festival Awards seeks to cast that net even further to create a true and all encompassing measure of the festival-goer opinion. To vote simply visit festivalawards.com/vote within the next 30 days.
Tickets start at just £40 and are available through the UK Festival Conference & Awards' official ticketing partner Eventbrite, to order please visit festivalawards.com/tickets/.
2013 Award Categories
Best Major/Medium (in association with Eventbrite)/Small Festival (in association with IVS) - Best Metropolitan Festiva -l Best New Festival - Best Toilets - Best Family Festival - Best New Festival (in association with Robertson Taylor) - Best Overseas Festival Headline Performance of the Year (in association with Relentless) - Best Breakthrough Artist Anthem of the Summer (in association with Jagermeister)
To be considered for these Awards, festivals need to fill out a short application form. They’ll do the rest!
The following Awards are decided by panels made up of people who are experts in the relevant sector:
Agency of the Year (decided by IQ Magazine) - Best Line-Up (decided by a panel of renowned UK music journalists) - Concession of the Year (decided by festival organisers) - The Greener Festival Award (decided by AGreenerFestival.com) - Best Brand Activation (decided by the European Sponsorship Association) The Extra-Festival Activity Award (decided by the Festival Awards Board) Promoter of the Year (decided by the Festival Awards Board, in association with Peppermint Bars) Outstanding Contribution to Festival Production (in association with TPI) Best Use of New Technology (decided by a panel of technology journalists, in association with Stuff) The Lifetime Achievement Award (decided by the Festival Awards Board, in association with FHQ)