This year’s UK Festival Awards takes place at London’s iconic music venue, The Roundhouse on 15th November.
Last year’s sold-out event saw AC/DC, Florence & The Machine, Paolo Nutini and Biffy Clyro honoured, with T In The Park Festival Director Geoff Ellis picking up the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The UK Festival Awards were launched in 2004 and are a key staple of the live music and festival industry calendar. The Festival Awards Conference was first developed in 2007 following huge demand from the industry, and has established itself as a crucial business information tool and open forum for the UK festival industry, celebrated by leading promoters, festival directors and agents as an integral part of the business.
Festival Awards Ltd have also announced some important changes to the ‘Best Festival’ award categories – Best Major / Medium / Small Festival, Best Metropolitan Festival, Best New Festival, Best Family Festival, as well as Best Toilets.
Following a period of consultation with representatives across the UK Festival industry, these categories will be decided by a judging panel made up of over 100 journalists and experienced reviewers who between them will visit festivals and score them on criteria which have been set by the industry through Festival Awards Ltd’s Advisory Board. The categories were previously decided by public vote.
The move is to increase the accessibility of the UK Festival Awards for all festivals. Each event will be judged on a ‘mystery shopper’ basis, on criteria including quality of line-up, campsite facilities, security, communication and value for money. The full list of criteria can be viewed at UK Festival Awards.
“Changing the way some of the Awards are decided will make the UK Festival Awards more accessible,” says Festival Awards Ltd MD James Drury.
Published on 29 October 2011 by Wayne Feltham
