Voting for the 2012 Festival Awards is now closed. We will make the official announcement on January 16.
Welcome to the debut MFJ 2012 Festival Awards. The following fests will be voted on by the fans for the next four weeks with winners being declared in mid-January. You may vote once in each of the following categories.
Important Dates
Voting Opens: December 10, 2012
Voting Closes: January 14, 2013
Winners Announced: January 16, 2013
Category #1: Festival of the Year 2012
We took the most popular festival guides on Music Festival Junkies and picked the top 25 of 2012 to battle it out. One vote, one festival, one winner.
- Summerfest (29%, 409 Votes)
- Bonnaroo (17%, 244 Votes)
- Burning Man (10%, 147 Votes)
- Coachella (10%, 146 Votes)
- All Good (9%, 131 Votes)
- Lollapalooza (4%, 54 Votes)
- Sasquatch (3%, 42 Votes)
- Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas (3%, 40 Votes)
- Wakarusa (2%, 35 Votes)
- Summer Camp (2%, 26 Votes)
- Hangout Music Festival (2%, 22 Votes)
- Outside Lands (1%, 21 Votes)
- Ultra (1%, 17 Votes)
- South by Southwest (1%, 15 Votes)
- Bumbershoot (1%, 11 Votes)
- Fun Fun Fun Fest (1%, 10 Votes)
- Gathering of the Vibes (1%, 9 Votes)
- New Orleans Jazz Fest (1%, 9 Votes)
- Electric Zoo (1%, 8 Votes)
- Austin City Limits (1%, 8 Votes)
- Newport Folk Festival (0%, 4 Votes)
- Voodoo Music Experience (0%, 4 Votes)
- Pitchfork (0%, 4 Votes)
- WE Fest (0%, 2 Votes)
- Essence (0%, 2 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,420
Loading …Category #2: Best Debut Festival 2012
The US welcomed a bunch of new festivals this season. Some will stay, some will go, but only one will be crowned the best new festival of the year.
- Treefort (32%, 140 Votes)
- CounterPoint (19%, 83 Votes)
- Firefly (15%, 66 Votes)
- Summer Set (8%, 37 Votes)
- Made In America (5%, 20 Votes)
- The Peach Music Festival (4%, 17 Votes)
- Bunbury (3%, 15 Votes)
- Orion Music +More (3%, 13 Votes)
- River’s Edge (3%, 12 Votes)
- Wavefront (2%, 10 Votes)
- CBGB Festival (2%, 10 Votes)
- Lift Festival (2%, 8 Votes)
- Watershed (1%, 5 Votes)
- The Ride Festival (0%, 2 Votes)
- Catalpa (1%, 2 Votes)
Total Voters: 440
Loading …Category #3: Best EDM Festival 2012
EDM festivals have never been hotter than in 2012. Time to pick your favorite.
- The Bounce Festival (30%, 162 Votes)
- Electric Forest (16%, 87 Votes)
- Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas (12%, 63 Votes)
- Lightning in a Bottle (10%, 53 Votes)
- Ultra Miami (8%, 44 Votes)
- Camp Bisco (5%, 27 Votes)
- CounterPoint (4%, 24 Votes)
- Sonic Bloom (2%, 12 Votes)
- Beyond Wonderland (2%, 10 Votes)
- Electric Daisy Carnival New York (2%, 10 Votes)
- Electric Zoo (2%, 9 Votes)
- Spring Awakening (2%, 9 Votes)
- Detroit Movement (1%, 7 Votes)
- Hard Summer (1%, 6 Votes)
- Wavefront (1%, 5 Votes)
- Identity Festival (1%, 5 Votes)
- Paradiso Festival (1%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 538
Loading …Category #4: Best Canadian Festival 2012
The strong Canadian music festival scene provides a 2012 throwdown between provinces and genres.
- Shambhala (74%, 316 Votes)
- Osheaga (10%, 42 Votes)
- Quebec City Summer Festival (2%, 9 Votes)
- Montreal Jazz Fest (2%, 8 Votes)
- North By Northeast (NXNE) (2%, 7 Votes)
- Big Valley Jamboree (1%, 6 Votes)
- Boonstock (1%, 6 Votes)
- Halifax Pop Explosion (1%, 5 Votes)
- MUTEK (1%, 5 Votes)
- Pop Montreal (1%, 5 Votes)
- Sled Island Music Festival (1%, 5 Votes)
- Calgary Folk Music Festival (1%, 3 Votes)
- Heavy MTL (1%, 3 Votes)
- Live At Squamish (0%, 2 Votes)
- Heavy T.O. (0%, 2 Votes)
- Dauphin’s Countryfest (0%, 1 Votes)
- Canadian Music Fest (2%, 1 Votes)
Total Voters: 426
Loading …Click here to read the FAQ
How did you come up with these festivals?
The selected festivals are a curated list based on traffic within the site along with a very spirited debate with the MFJ crew. Also, heavy drinking is involved.
What about the rest of the world?
MFJ is based out of North America. For our first year, we wanted to keep it a bit smaller and local. Plus, there’s the excellent UK awards which do a rad job of covering oversea fests.
Where do I complain?
Comments sections below or drop us a line here. Feel free to also leave praise, thoughts, suggestions, and recipes. We especially enjoy baked goods.
Was lucky enough in 2012 to attend or work production at Voodoo Music Experience,Fun Fun Fun Fest,Austin City Limits,Lollapalooza,Ultra,South By Southwest& attended both weeks of Coachella.
Also attended Made in America,Rock the Bells New Jersey, Afro-Punk Fest….So many festivals this year!
I attended All Good and Hangout on this list. All Good was better by far. Hangout was way more expensive (partially because of a beach house) but the crowd also trashed the beach. The crowd was my major complaint. All Good was great best festival I attended since Rothbury 2009!
How is What The Festival not an option for debut fest of the year?! It could also be up for the other categories also.
Can you add it as a nominee?
why is festival international de louisiane not listed.
Hangout was pretty good this year, I mean after all you’re listening to all of these artists on a freaking beach! But the crowd was terrible… Counterpoint blew my mind away it was so good. Definitely deserves best debut fest award!!!