Download Festival wins the Festival Award at the Rolling Stone UK Awards in collaboration with Rémy Martin

Download Festival have won the Festival Award at the first ever Rolling Stone UK Awards in collaboration with Rémy Martin.

The festival – who are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year – beat the likes of Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, End Of The Road and Green Man to the gong at tonight’s ceremony in London.

Picking up the award from Nova Twins, festival booker Andy Copping said: I’ve got to say thank you to Rolling Stone UK and Remy Martin. We’re in our 21st year and we’ve done our very very best to make our festival more diverse and slowly we’re getting there. Thank you Rolling Stone UK for recognising us.”

In a shout out to Sharon Osbourne, he added: “Mrs Sharon Osbourne is here tonight and she has supported our festival right from the beginning. We love you Sharon! Thank you very much and thank you Rolling Stone UK.”

Download announced its 2024 line-up this month, with Queens Of The Stone Age, Fall Out Boy and Avenged Sevenfold to headline.

The festival will return to Donington Park from June 14-16 next year, and the 21st edition of the event will also feature Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor, Royal Blood, The Offspring and more.

Speaking to Rolling Stone UK about the award win for a piece in the new issue of the magazine, Copping said: “When we first started out, we were without a doubt the first festival in the world that really embraced its audience in the sense of properly creating a community.

“It was really important to us that the Download community really feel that we’ve got this kind of family ethos and that they did have a voice.”

The first Rolling Stone UK Awards kicked off earlier tonight with a performance from The Last Dinner Party, who stunned attendees with a powerful rendition of ‘My Lady Of Mercy’.

You can check back here for all the latest coverage of the Rolling Stone UK Awards throughout the evening.