DHP Family is in the running for a clean sweep of industry awards for all of its festivals marking the culmination of a highly successful season which also saw the launch of widely acclaimed No Tomorrow festival.
Shortlisted for six categories in the UK Festival awards, DHP Family is up for awards across the board for its diverse portfolio of festivals ranging from the family friendly Splendour to the electronic all-nighter Everywhere. Dot to Dot, the reigning Best Metropolitan Festival, is in the frame for the title once again along with the other DHP events Everywhere and Hit the Deck.
Hopes are also high for No Tomorrow – a contender as Best New Festival and Best Medium Sized Festival – which drew rave reviews from the 10,000 plus crowd who soaked up a headline set of slow-burn ballads from fast rising London Grammar, supported with dance friendly slots from Clean Bandit, Sam Smith and Duke Dumont. Programmed with the large student contingent in mind, the June event held at Nottingham’s Wollaton Park proved extremely popular with its over 18s audience.
Ali McLean, Head of Festivals at DHP Family, said: “Building a successful festival requires an equal measure of logic, passion and luck, as well as the ability to carry out careful planning, research and having the guts to give it a go. We are extremely pleased to be recognized in the same fields as some of the UK’s most prestigious and well-known festivals.”
The annual Splendour Festival, which this year saw headline sets by Tom Odell and The Happy Mondays, has also been tipped for the Best Medium Sized event, as well as the award for Best Family Festival. Closing DHP’s summer season in July, the 20,000 capacity one-dayer offers a carefully curated selection of heritage acts and teenage friendly artists.
Ali McLean added: “DHP Family has put a lot of passion and creativity into creating a variety of festivals which appeal to a number of different people. Whether it’s our indoor events such as Everywhere, Dot to Dot and Hit The Deck, or our full festival experiences at No Tomorrow and Splendour, DHP prides itself on showcasing popular and emerging artists, as well as providing great food, bars and atmosphere at excellent value for money.”
Capitalising on its previous success, DHP has three entrants in the Best Metropolitan Festival category, including 2013 winner Dot to Dot. Returning on top form again this year, the event saw 150 artists playing across 44 stages in 33 venues across Manchester, Bristol and Nottingham. Starting out in Nottingham seven years ago, the musically diverse festival has featured the likes of Ed Sheeran, The XX and Florence & The Machine, with this year’s acts including the zeitgeist guitar band of 2014, Peace, as headliner.
Nominations for Best Metropolitan Festival also include the Bank Holiday dollop curated ‘Everywhere’, which is also up for Best Dance Event, and Hit The Deck. Proving just how diverse its offerings are, ‘Everywhere’ delivered cutting edge of contemporary electronic music to a sell-out crowd, whilst Hit The Deck featured rock, punk, metal and hardcore bands in venues across Nottingham and Bristol.
Winners of this year’s UK Festival Awards will be decided by public vote and judging panels made up of leading industry experts. Designed to celebrate the hard work, vision and creativity of the festival circuit, will be announced at the gala ceremony which returns to The Roundhouse in London on Monday December 1.
To vote, simply visit festivalawards.com/vote before voting closes on 1st November. Everyone who votes is entered into a draw with the chance to win two tickets to every winning festival in the UK Festival Awards next summer.