featured photo by Don Idio for DJ Mag

This past week at the XLIVE Conference and Expo In Las Vegas, Everfest and XLIVE teamed up to present the 13 award winners for the inaugural FestX Awards.

14 esteemed festival industry professionals were responsible for the majority of the votes, while the Fan’s Choice Award Winner stole the show by receiving a resounding 6000 votes from their loyal fanbase. Chip Conley, the benevolent founder of Fest300, gracefully hosted this event in which over 1000 festival and live event industry professionals were present. Competition was stiff, with 57 unique festivals being nominated, which further signifies that we are absolutely living in the golden-era of festival production.

2017 FestX Award Winners

Best Beer/Wine Festival

 Oktoberfest

Best Brand + Festival Pairing

 Panorama Music Festival + HP, “HP Lab”

Best Family-Friendly Festival

 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

Best Fan Community

 Electric Forest, “ForestFam”

Best Esports Festival

 BlizzCon

Best Food Festival

 Taste of Chicago

Best Use of Technology at a Festival

 Coachella + Obscura Digital, “Antarctic Dome”

Outstanding Green Event

 DGTL, “Revolution”

Best New Festival

 Lost Lake Festival

Fan’s Choice Award

 Vive Latino

Best Production Design

 Electric Forest

Outstanding Social Impact

 AFROPUNK

Best Relationship with Fans

Firefly Music Festival

It’s an exciting time for the festival industry, both domestic and international. Seeing as how the only festival on this list that I have attended is Electric Forest, it is clear that there are quite a few events to add to my 2018 itinerary.

Do you feel the awards went to their rightful owners?