Festival Congress Award Winners Announced
Winners of the 2015 Festival Congress Awards announced
The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) has announced the winners of the 2015 Festival Congress Awards at a ceremony in Cardiff.
The Festival Congress Awards celebrate the diverse and creative community that makes the festival landscape what it is. Hosted by Ben Challis (General Counsel to Glastonbury Festival)the ceremony took place on the evening of the first day of The Festival Congress (Thursday 5th of November).
Winners included Slaves (‘Live Act of the Year’), Camp Wildfire (‘New Festival on the Block’), Boomtown Fair (‘Mind Blowing Spectacle’ and ‘Smart Marketing Campaign’) and Blissfields (‘Unique Festival Arena’).
Nominations are put forward and then voted for by the AIF’s 55 member festivals.
The winners are as follows:
New festival on the block (no more than three editions)
- Camp Wildfire
Unique festival arena
- The Hidden Hedge at Blissfields
Live act of the year
- Slaves
Mind blowing spectacle
- Boomtown’s Palace (The Main Stage)- Boomtown Fair
Best smart marketing campaign of the year
- Boomtown Fair’s Spoof Videos
Festival journalist / website of the year
- Simon Godley – God is in the TV ZIne
Emmet Brown award for innovative use of technology
- Shambala – The first UK Festival to accept Bitcoin as payment
Unsung hero
- Chris Tofu – Continental Drifts
Following the ceremony, congress delegates enjoyed a festival-themed party, with a street food festival banquet, including food from Cardiff’s Hangfire Smokehouse, The Dusty Knuckles Pizza Company and Mr Croquewich.
Rob da Bank (Bestival), The Head Gardener (Secret Garden Party) and Chris Tofu (Continental Drifts) were on DJ duty, spinning tunes at the aftershow party.
Paul Reed, General Manager of the AIF said: “What a way to kick start the Festival Congress. The event was sold-out for a second year running and it was fantastic to acknowledge and celebrate the creative minds behind the independent festival sector as it goes from strength to strength. Our members’ vote for the awards and the fact that we have winners who are yet to join AIF speaks volumes about the festival community. It was a strong shortlist so congratulations to all of the winners and see you next year in Cardiff!”
This year The Festival Congress took place at Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre and featured over fifty guest speakers. For info go to www.festivalcongress.com
The AIF Festival Congress is supported by the Major Events Unit of the Welsh Government. New ticketing service Una Tickets was a sponsor and exclusive ticketing partner and BIMM were a sponsor and the lead educational partner.