This year’s 25th anniversary Bluesfest claimed silver in hot competition for NSW’s Major Festival & Event at the NSW Tourism Awards in Sydney last night.
It’s the second time Bluesfest has been runner up to Tamworth’s music festival and, while organisers are happy with the result, they are keen to wrest the mantle back next year.
Members of the Bluesfest team were at Dockside Pavilion in Darling Harbour to accept the award. Bluesfest was nominated against Vivid Live, which took out the bronze and Tamworth Country Music Festival which won gold.
The category is open to ‘hallmark festivals or events that create substantial economic impact, attract visitors from interstate and or overseas, generate a national or international media profile and positively promote the destination’.
Bluesfest Director Peter Noble who was in Sydney to accept the award said, ‘it is not just a proud win for Bluesfest but also a major recognition for the northern rivers/north coast NSW region’.
‘What a year we have had – winning the Helpmann Award and Australian Event Award for Australia’s Best Music Festival already in 2014 and now getting Silver in the Major Festivals and Events category in the NSW Tourism Awards, after winning last year – and getting silver and gold in the preceding two years,’ Peter Noble said.
‘We have a healthy competition going on with Tamworth Country Music Festival – which has now beaten Bluesfest for gold in the two years we won silver, including this year – and we will be attempting to regain the gold in 2015 to bring home to Byron shire.’
Bluesfest has also recently been nominated for the highly regarded annual Pollstar Award in the category of the 2014 ‘International Music Festival of the Year’ for the third year.
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