The UK’s one and only UK Festival Awards ceremony took place on Tuesday 5th December 2023 at Manchester’s Escape to Freight Island and the many deserving winners have been anointed during a celebration hosted by one of the the UKβs finest live acts, the #1 selling Lottery Winners, with lead singer Thom Rylance fronting the presentation in spectacular style, including a specially crafted poem to celebrate those gathered with the band providing a rolling soundtrack to the entire presentation.
This year the most standout festivals have been awarded once again in an unforgettable night of celebration. Escape to Freight Island was a warm and welcoming setting with festival lovers gathered to enjoy some great music and food from the in-house outlets.
Say the people behind the ceremony, “Itβs amazing to see the whole festival spectrum represented in one room on one night; this year, the 200 festivals that were nominated in the UK Festival Awards entertained around 2.5 million fans, delivered by a combination of energy, creativity and passion. It really is an honour to gather such wonderful people together in celebration of the worldβs best festival sector.”
This year there were two new categories added Best Micro Festival for super-boutique events, and Transport Impact Innovator for festivals striving to reduce the huge impacts of audience travel, all on top of the regular fan-voted awards including Best Large, Medium and Small Festival, Best Metropolitan Festival, Best New Festival, The Grassroots Festival Award, Best Family Festival, The UK Greener Festival Award and Best Non-Music Festival.
It was a carefully assembled team of esteemed industry figures who judged the final awards such as Best Festival Production, The Brand Activation Award, Promoter of the Year, Line-Up of the Year, The Community Impact Award and many more.
The official winners guide can be found at https://www.festivalawards.com/2023-winners/ with a full list of winners below:
The Innovation Award – Tagmix
Marketing Campaign of the Year – Kendal Calling (Cumbria)
Transport Impact Innovation Award – Boomtown (Bristol based- site in Hampshire)
The Sarah Nulty Community Impact Award – Teddy Rocks (Blandford Forum)
The Festivals’ Favourite Artist Agency – Midnight Mango (national)
The Brand Activation Award – CSM Live for Lidl
The UK Greener Festival Award – Green Gathering (Chepstow)
Best Non-Music Festival – Manchester International Film Festival
Best Metropolitan Festival – Dot to Dot (Nottingham and Bristol)
The Grassroots Festival Award – Breaking Bands Festival (Bromsgrove)
Best Festival for Emerging Talent – Tramlines (Sheffield)
Best Family Festival – Whitchurch Children’s Festival (Whitchurch Hampshire)
Best New Festival – Coast Fest (North Shields Tyneside)
Line-Up of the Year – Standon Calling (Hertfordshire)
Best Festival Production – Boomtown
Promoter of the Year – DHP Family (Nottingham)
Best Micro Festival – Burn It Down (Torquay)
Best Small Festival – Barn on the Farm (Gloucester)
Best Medium Festival – 2000 Trees (Bristol ish)
Best Large Festival – Download Donnington
The Outstanding Contribution Award – Nancy Skipper, Julie Chennells from Ginger Owl Productions