Public voting to decide the winners of the ninth annual UK Festival Awards is now open and will run until October 31, 2012.
More than 200 British contemporary music festivals have applied to take part in the awards this year, which exist to recognise and congratulate the people whose work has entertained more than 3 million festival-goers in the UK this summer, in spite of the wettest weather conditions since records began.
The Best Major Festival category sees Reading & Leeds, V Festival, Download and Scotland’s T in the Park battling it out with group newcomer Bestival.
Vying for the title of Best Headline Performance include acts such as Dizzee Rascal at Kendal Calling, Elbow at Lattitude, Patti Smith at Hop Farm, Slayer at I'll Be Your Mirror and The Killers at V Fesival.
Festival-goers can cast their votes at www.festivalawards.com/vote across categories also including Best Major/Medium-Sized/Small Festival, Best Dance Event, Best Family Festival, Best Metropolitan Festival, Headline Performance, Best Breakthrough Artist, Anthem of the Summer and Best Toilets.
Specialised categories such as Outstanding Contribution to Festival Production and Agent of the Year will be decided by industry expert panels.
To view the full long lists please click here.
The top ten shortlists in each category will be announced on Monday, November 5. The winners will be announced and presented with their accolades at the gala ceremony at the Roundhouse in London on Monday, December 3 - hosted by Phill Jupitus.
For the first time, during the day of the awards show, the UK Festival Conference will be held in the same venue with keynote speakers and a programme of senior-level panelists addressing the key challenges and opportunities facing the industry. Particular emphasis will be paid to dealing with adverse weather, building and retaining audience loyalty and capitalising on the reformatting revenue streams in the marketplace.
Steve Jenner, Festival Awards co-founder commented: “The overwhelming interest we have received from festivals of all shapes and sizes wanting to be involved in the Awards and Conference this year is an encouraging sign that the market is rallying; what was just a few years ago a fragmented industry is now very much a community.
“It all makes for exciting progress and a brilliant party, both of which are very important when the going gets tough and it’s rained a lot.”
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