Shambala, Stowaway and Diaspora Calling! nominated for festival awards

The Shambala Festival which is held in the grounds of Kelmarsh Hall, the Stowaway Festival which takes place at Blackpit Farm near Stowe and Diaspora Calling! which was held at The National Bowl in Milton Keynes have all received nominations in different categories.

Shambala has been nominated in the Independent Festival Of The Year and the Family Festival Of The Year categories, Stowaway in the Small Festival Of The Year category and Diaspora Calling! in the Line-Up of The Year category.

For its inaugural event, Diaspora Calling! brought together acts including Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean, Erykah Badu, Giggs, Fireboy DML, YG Marley, Zion Marley and Dave Chappelle.

At this year’s Shambala Festival, acts including Bob Vylan, Goat, BCUC, Emma-Jean Thackray, The Selecter and Hollie Cook joined the likes of Green Party Leader Zack Polanski, Led by Donkeys and hundreds of other performers.

Stowaway featured acts including Nightmares On Wax, She She She and Skream among dozens of other dance acts.

Both Shambala and Stowaway will return in 2027 and tickets are on sale now.

The winners of this year’s UK Festival Awards will be announced at a ceremony in Diecast in Manchester on Tuesday, December 1.

The judging panel is made up of journalists, representatives from industry bodies, accessibility groups and others. Judge votes will be make up 70 per cent of the total vote.

At last year’s event Shambala won Independent Festival Of The Year, Medium Festival Of The Year and The Sarah Nulty Community Impact Award.

Public votes can be cast at https://festivalawards.com/shortlist2026. Voting closes on Tuesday, November 3.