EAFN Festivals of the Year Awards

2024 Festivals of the Year Awards – Results ANNOUNCED on Thu 23 Jan 2025 ON BBC LOCAL RADIO.

9000 of you visited the Polls to vote for your favourites from 2024 for the East Anglian Festival Network’s annual East of England Festivals of the Year Awards. Festivalgoers across the region showed their love and voted for their favourite events from last year that took place in Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk. There were over eight hundred and fifty events (Festivals, Fairs and Fun Days) to choose from this year! We announced the results live on our local BBC Radio airwaves at 2.20pm on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire – Louise Hulland on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, 23/01/2025

and the winners for 2024 were:

Cambridgeshire: Estafest

Essex: ALB Festival The ALB Festival also retained their overall Festival of the region award.

Hertfordshire: Soultasia Hertford

Norfolk: Costessey Fete and Fayre

Suffolk: Weird and Wonderful Wood

Here’s the Top 20:

ALB (Anti Loo Roll Brigade) Festival, Colchester
WEIRD AND WONDERFUL WOOD (EAFN Member)
Costessey Fete and Fayre (NORFOLK SHOWGROUND – EAFN Member)
Maui Waui Festival
Brancaster Staithe Sea Shanty Festival
ESTAFEST (EAFN Member)
Old Buckenham Balloon Fest
St Ives (Cambs) Carnival and Music Festival
VW Beetlejuiced Festival
BUCKFEST (EAFN Member)
Norwich Pride
BEERS, BIKES and BANDS, Banham (EAFN Member)
SOULTASIA HERTFORD – EAFN Member
YARMAGEDDON – LEGENDS OF ROCK – EAFN Member
Festival of Wheels – TRINITY PARK, IPSWICH (EAFN Member)
Vulcan Music and Beer Festival
Wild Fest at the Brewery
NORTH WALSHAM CHILDREN’S DAY (EAFN Member)
BURES MUSIC FESTIVAL (EAFN Member)
Cambridge Pride

History of the Awards:

The EAFN Festival Awards started as a bit of fun through the Gigs Out web pages when the EAFN was being developed in 2016/17 with hundreds of votes from gig-goers in Cambs, Norfolk and Suffolk.

After the launch of the EAFN in 2018 the awards became more popular and several thousand voted for around half the 500 Festivals listed in the three counties. The results were broadcast on local BBC Radio across the region and trophies (‘The Mics’) presented at the EAFN Show.

In 2019 the awards proved even more popular with four separate polls with thousands of you voting for the 700 plus Cambridgeshire Festivals, Norfolk Festivals, Suffolk Festivals and Essex Festivals listed by the EAFN.

Mike Wilson (EAFN) presents the 2018 ‘Mics’ to Buckfest, Folk in a Field & LeeStock at the Apex, Bury St Edmunds as part of the EAFN Show 2019.

Pictures: BoMoJo®

Sadly COVID19 put paid to 95% of our Festivals in 2020 so the awards were put on hold. The awards returned for 2021 as 65% of our Festivals took place. Thousands of you voted once again and the results were announced live on BBC Local Radio.

Mike Wilson (EAFN) presents some of the 2019 and 2021 ‘Mics’ to Buckfest, Bures Music Festival, Deepdale Festival, Harwich International Shanty Festival and Primadonna.

In 2022 and 2023 the number of events we listed was back to 2019 levels and last year 8500 visited the survey to cast their votes. We now present the trophies at the winner’s next events and again at the annual EAFN Show.

In 2024 we added Hertfordshire to our awards and visitors to the polls increased to 9000.

In 2025 we have added the Bedfordshire to our listings so that we now cover all six counties in the East of England region.

The trophies (The Mics) are repurposed from old, broken microphones by the lovely people at The Centre Training Workshop in Bury St Edmunds who are dedicated to providing services for people who are disadvantaged through disability, through birth, accident, illness, stroke, mental health, early dementia or lifestyle. L

Please let us know of you have any sad, broken Mics we can repurpose as trophies please.

Here are all the winners from the first seven years:

CAMBRIDGESHIRE:

2024: ESTAFEST