Final 2009 Greener Festival Awards announced
The final list of Greener Festival Award winners has been announced for 2009 with another twenty festivals picking up the prestigious gong, adding to the seventeen which were announced in July, midway through the Festival season in the UK. The new awards go to festivals including Bestival, The City of London Festival, the Cambridge Folk Festival, Oya Festival in Norway, West Beach in the USA and The Croissant Neuf Summer Party. These Festivals join festivals such as Glastonbury, T-in-the-Park, Download, Firegathering and The Isle of Wight festival who had already picked up the coveted award. We are particularly pleased with the number of outstanding festivals in 2009 with thirteen festivals being awarded very high marks. The Award is based on a 56 part questionnaire which covers office management, greenhouse gas emissions, supporting green initiatives, travel and transport, waste and recycling, water management, environmental protection and noise reduction and almost all the festivals will receive a visit from an independent auditor to assess their green efforts.All winning Festivals will receive a special trophy designed by competition winner Sade Goddard from Keswick School in Cumbria whose winning design features a Red Kite motif and is made from recycled plastic bottles, crushed CDs and remoulded Wellington boots.The winner of the overall Greener Festival Award 2009 will be announced at the UK Festival Awards which will be held at the O2 Arena in London on November 19th 2009.We were worried that in a year when the recession bit hard we might see Festivals shying away from their ongoing commitment to green issues, but we have been generally pleased with the efforts of festivals around the world to keep sustainability high on their own agenda and to promote environmental awareness to fans. We had more ‘outstanding’ winners in 2009 and a 20% rise in applications from 2008, with more international applications than ever with five winners from Australia, four from the USA and four from mainland Europe. But much remains to be done and in the UK, a car centric society means that audience travel, and indeed leisure travel in general is a massive problem, clearly not helped by an obvious lack of coherent public transport policies.The Greener Festival Awards are supported by Robertson Taylor, insurance brokers.OUTSTANDING GREENER FESTIVALSBestival (England)Bonnaroo (USA)Big Tent (Scotland)Bluesfest (Aus)Croissant Neuf Summer Party (Wales)Eolica (Canary Islands, Spain)Isle of Wight (England)Peats Ridge (Aus)Rothbury (USASouthbound (Aus)Sunrise (England)Waveform (England)Workhouse (Wales) THE GREENER FESTIVAL AWARD WINNERSBig Session (England)Cambridge Folk Festival (England)Camp Bestival (England)The City of London Festival (England)The Falls Festival (Australia)Glastonbury Festival (England)Firegathering (England)Manchester International Festival (England)Oya Festival (Norway)Rototom Sunsplash (Italy)Sonisphere (England)Summer Sundae Weekender (England)Szeged Youth Festival (Szegedi Ifjúsági Napok, Hungary)T-in-the-Park (Scotland)West Beach (USA)WOMADelaide (Australia)IMPROVING GREENER FESTIVALSAtlanta Jazz Festival (USA)Big Chill (England)Download (England)The Glade (England)Hard Rock Calling (England)Standon Calling (England)Wireless (England)Y-Not (England)