Rockness Wins Best Small Festival at NME Awards

Scottish Festival Beats Out the Competition to Pick up the Prize at the 2011 Ceremony

The Rockness Festival is one of many in the United Kingdom to feature a capacity of less than 50,000 music fans. As a result it was eligible for the Best Small Festival Award at this year’s NME Awards, putting it up against the popular Latitude Festival, as well as Kendal Calling, Bestival and the Underage Festival. At the recent awards ceremony it was announced as the winner, starting the year of well for the event ahead of its 2011 festival in June.

It faced some stiff competition in Latitude, a festival whose reputation has been growing in recent years thanks to the theatre, comedy and arts offerings to go alongside the big-name bands. It too has been running since 2006 and last year featured headline acts such as Florence and the Machine, Belle & Sebastian and Vampire Weekend. The 2011 Latitude Festival will take place on the weekend from Friday 15th July 2011 to Sunday 17th July 2011.

Bestival, meanwhile, has already announced some of the acts set to appear at its 2011 event in September, from Primal Scream, The Cure and Brian Wilson to Katy B, Crystal Castles and more. The festival has been running since 2004, making it the oldest of all of the events up for the award.

But RockNess was the festival to come out on top and it will return in June with various acts undoubtedly dotting an impressive line-up. The event, as the name suggests, is heavily tied to the Loch Ness Monster and takes place on the shores of the famous loch near Inverness. Since its inception in 2006 it has welcomed musicians such as Fatboy Slim, Manic Street Preachers, Daft Punk, Razorlight, Annie Mac, The View, The Flaming Lips, Biffy Clyro, Dizzee Rascal, Ian Brown, The Doves and The Strokes, among others.

The RockNess Festival 2011 will take place on the weekend from Friday 10th June 2011 to Sunday 12th June 2011. Details regarding the line-up – and those for the other festivals mentioned - will undoubtedly be announced as the year progresses.