The U.K. Festival Awards

Voting for the U.K. Festival Awards 2006 has opened, along with a contest. Voting enters you to win two tickets to every winning festival, two "VIP" tickets to the UK Festival Awards ceremony in London on October 19th, and a year's supply of the beer from the company sponsoring the Awards. That brand of beer will likely also be available in the "VIP" areas of the Awards. If you win and you would rather drink anything else, might want to BYOB to be on the safe side. Voting and the contest close on October 16th.

Corporate involvement doesn't mean the Festival Awards lack heart. Categories include the Shelter Award For Social Responsibility and the Family Festival Award, as well as a prize for "the Feel-Good Act" with nominees including a-ha and Beck.

Nominees for "Headline Act" include Depeche Mode and Radiohead. It's the only nod for Depeche Mode. Radiohead was also nominated for the "Rock Act" prize, where their competition ranges from Muse to Metallica, and for "Memorable Moment" for their performance of "Creep" at the V Festival.

Fresh-faced newcomers Metric scored a Breakthrough Act nomination. Among the artists also up for the award: Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, The Young Knives, the Kooks, the Guillemots, and the Automatic.

The face-off between Belle & Sebastian and James Blunt in the Pop Act category seems more odd than Metric's presence in the Breakthrough Act category. Just because they were already familiar to some doesn't mean they had already broken through.

One question: why is "Best Dance Act" the only artist award with the word "Best" in the title?

A partial list of nominations follows; the full list and all the voting info may be found at festivalawards.com/.

Best Major Festival:

Creamfields
Download
Carling Weekend: Leeds Festival
Carling Weekend: Reading Festival
Global Gathering
Nokia Isle of Wight Festival
T in the Park
V Festival: Chelmsford
V Festival: Staffordshire
O2 Wireless Festival

Shelter Award For Social Responsibility:

Belladrum Tartan Heart
Ben & Jerry's Sundae
Cambridge Folk Festival
Latitude
Lovebox Weekender
Solfest
The Summer Sundae Weekender
Sunrise Summer Solstice Celebration
T In The Park
WOMAD

Family Festival Award:

Beautiful Days
Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival
Ben & Jerry's Sundae
Cambridge Folk Festival
Guilfest
Solfest
The Summer Sundae Weekender
The Big Session
Wychwood
WOMAD

Headline Act:

Coldplay (Isle of Wight)
Daft Punk (Global Gathering)
Depeche Mode (O2 Wireless)
Levellers (Beautiful Days)
Metallica (Download)
Muse (Carling Weekend: Reading and Leeds)
Pearl Jam (Carling Weekend: Reading and Leeds)
Prodigy (Creamfields, Isle of Wight)
Radiohead (V Festival)
Red Hot Chili Peppers (T in the Park)

Rock Act:

Arctic Monkeys
Foo Fighters
Kaiser Chiefs
Kasabian
The Kooks
Metallica
Muse
Pearl Jam
Radiohead
Razorlight

Best Dance Act:

2 Many DJs
Carl Cox
Daft Punk
DJ Shadow
Fatboy Slim
Goldfrapp
Groove Armada
Mylo
The Prodigy
Sasha

Pop Act:

Belle & Sebastian
Girls Aloud
James Blunt
The Feeling
Kubb
Lily Allen
Orson
Sandi Thom
Scissor Sisters
Scritti Polliti

Urban Act:

Corine Bailey Rae
Damian 'Jr Gong' Marley
Lady Sovereign
Jamie T
Kano
Killa Kela
Mark Ronson
Pharrell Williams
Plan B
The Streets

Breakthrough Act:

The Automatic
Dirty Pretty Things
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
Guillemots
Klaxons
The Kooks
Lily Allen
Metric
Wolfmother
The Young Knives

Feel-Good Act:

A-Ha
Beck
Gogol Bordello
Goldie Lookin' Chain
Nizlopi
Norman Jay
Primal Scream
The Cuban Brothers
The Flaming Lips
The Proclaimers

Memorable Moment:

Axl Rose - storming off a slippery stage at Download and demanding it be carpeted, after falling over.

Levellers - closing Beautiful Days to cap the evening's Masked Ball Party.

Chris Martin - leading the Isle Of Wight Festival crowd through his version of 'The Crouch' song and dance.

Franz Ferdinand - inviting various band members on stage to help drum on 'The Outsiders' (Reading, Leeds and T In The Park)

Girls Aloud - covering Kaiser Chiefs' 'I Predict A Riot' at V Festival

Panic! At The Disco - continuing their Carling Weekend: Reading Festival set in defiance after singer Brendon Urie got knocked out by a bottle thrown from the crowd.

Procol Harum - performing the tear-jerk classic 'Whiter Shade Of Pale' at the Isle Of Wight Festival.

Radiohead - finishing their V Festival headline set with the long hibernated 'Creep'.

Roger Waters - performing 'Dark Side Of The Moon' in its entirety at Hyde Park Calling.

Scissor Sisters - performing at Bestival dressed as clowns, despite a 'clown ban' for the fancy dress party.

a-ha - Keeper Of The Flame (available on Analogue)

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - Whitewash Is Brainwash (available on The Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager)