Download Festival took the gong for Best Major Festival on Monday 2nd December, beating the likes of Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds and V Festival at the UK Festival Awards that took place at London’s Roundhouse. From winning Best Line-up at last year’s awards, Download has brought rock and heavy metal music to the masses. Sheffield’s finest, Arctic Monkeys won this year’s Best Headline Performance for their mind-blowing headline set at Glastonbury. Seeing off competition from heavyweights, The Rolling Stones, Elton John and Foals, the quartet is finishing the year on a high.
The title of Best New Festival was snapped up by electronic party We are FSTVL. Established only this year at Damyn’s Hall Aerodrome in Essex, We are FSTVL played host to the world’s leading stars of dance music, much to the delight of electronic music fans. Feeling the love from the voting public, Rudimental beat fellow Mercury Music Prize nominees, Disclosure, in the Breakthrough Act of The Year category. Elsewhere, French duo Daft Punk got lucky taking the title of Anthem of The Summer for their catchy hit “Get Lucky” featuring Chic’s Nile Rogers who accepted the award via video message.
After much deliberation from renowned UK music journalists, the winner of Best Line-up this year went to Latitude, a festival which continues to gather the finest acts in music and the arts to date. As previously announced, the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement award went to Fiona Stewart of Green Man Festival for her contribution to the festival industry.
James Drury, Managing Director of UK Festival Awards commented: “In this, our 10th year, we had the most fiercely-fought competition for the awards. There were so many incredible festivals taking place this year that it’s not surprising that 575,000 votes were cast by fans from across the world.
“Congratulations to all those which made it into the finalists – it’s no mean feat to make it into the top 10, considering over 340 festivals entered this year.”
More this year’s festivals came out to celebrate 2013’s season with Kendal Calling, Creamfields, Camp Bestival, Bearded Theory and Barclaycard presents British Summer Time also taking home awards. A full list of winners can be found below.
2013 Award Winners
BEST MAJOR FESTIVAL
Download
BEST MEDIUM-SIZED FESTIVAL in association with Eventbrite
Kendal Calling
BEST SMALL FESTIVAL in association with Intelligent Venue Solutions
Bearded Theory
BEST NEW FESTIVAL in association with Robertson Taylor
We Are FSTVL
BEST DANCE EVENT
Creamfields
BEST METROPOLITAN FESTIVAL
Dot To Dot
BEST FAMILY FESTIVAL
Camp Bestival
BEST GRASSROOTS EVENT in association with ID&C
2000trees Festival
BEST TOILETS in association with XL Video
ArcTanGent
BEST OVERSEAS FESTIVAL
Snowbombing (Austria)
HEADLINE PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR in association with Relentless Energy Drink
Arctic Monkeys – Glastonbury
ANTHEM OF THE SUMMER in association with Jagermeister
Get Lucky – Daft Punk
BREAKTHROUGH ACT OF THE YEAR
Rudimental
JURY AWARDS
CODA
BEST LINE-UP in association with J20 Lates (decided by a panel of renowned UK music journalists)
Latitude
CONCESSION OF THE YEAR
Strumpets with Crumpets
THE GREENER FESTIVAL AWARD in association with AGreenerFestival
Shambala Festival
BEST BRAND ACTIVATION in association with the European Sponsorship Association
Virgin Media
THE EXTRA-FESTIVAL ACTIVITY AWARD
Wilderness
PROMOTER OF THE YEAR in association in association with Peppermint Bars
Paddy Glasgow (Glasgowbury)
BEST USE OF NEW TECHNOLOGY in association with Stuff magazine
Barclaycard Presents British Summer Time (in Hyde Park) Intelligent Venue Solutions
THE OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD in association with Festival HQ
Fiona Stewart, Green Man Festival