The UK Festival Awards are hoping for their biggest event yet, but they could be doing more to help the festival market in the UK and abroad as a whole.
Open until October 10th, the public can now vote online, with the ceremony set to take place at London’s Roundhouse on 15th November.
Festival fans have the chance to pick their favorite festivals and artists of the summer, with categories including Best Major/Medium/Small Festival, Headline Performance of the Year, Anthem of the Summer and even Best Toilets.
UK Festival Awards’ managing director James Drury stated that there are, "Over 200 UK festivals taking part this year, which is the most we’ve ever had. It’s testament to the vibrancy of the British market, despite some challenging economic times.”
Managing Editor of WikiFestivals, Cynthia Franklin, says, "Usually it can be assumed that the majority of winners would be the larger festivals. However, the price and technical difficulties of getting a ticket for events such as Glastonbury, have encouraged festival goers to embrace smaller festivals, so we may be pleasantly surprised this year."
But with only one international category: Best Overseas Festival, the awards could further expand its potential.
Franklin believes that, "If the event expanded to include more global categories and encouraged global voting, this could generate money for the UK Festival industry and the UK as a whole, as we could essentially create an exciting worldwide event comparable to the Oscars."
The expansion does not have to stop there, the potential for awards including Best Charity Work, Greenest Festival, and Best Festival in terms of volunteering would be a great way to make festivals worldwide strive for the awards, as well as rewarding all the people who put a lot of time and effort into making the festivals a success.
"Understandably these awards are aimed at music festivals, but as the years progress I would love to see the event expand to include all the great non-music festivals that take place," Franklin adds, suggesting there is still more potential for the already outstanding work that the UK Festival Awards do.