The team behind Festival of Media, the global celebration of the media industry, has today launched the Festival of Women’s Football Awards to celebrate and amplify women’s footballers, grassroots heroes and the whole women’s football community in 2025.
Born from the experience of volunteering in the grassroots game and witnessing just how overlooked the sport has been in the awards industry, the Festival of Women’s Football Awards will be the first awards event to truly understand and represent the women’s game.
Jeremy King, the founder of Festival of Media, is bringing his vast experience delivering large scale events and celebrations all around the world and combining it with his passion for women and girls’ football.
Having helped set up the girls’ division at London Lions Football Club in north west London five years ago, King has been coaching and managing young footballers during this time and has been privy to both the lows and the highs of the women’s game and the struggles facing young girls trying to make it in the game, or achieve parity with male players. Equally he has also seen the positive impact playing the sport can have on girls.
For the past 18 months, King and the team behind the project have been talking to the women’s football sector to create a programme for the industry curated by the industry. The team has been speaking to key stakeholders from across the game including clubs from grassroots to professional level, women’s football experts, the FA, Women’s Professional Leagues Limited and the key journalists and commentators in the space.
From the logo – inspired by the London Lions U12s girls team and brought to life by a grassroots women’s footballer who is also a designer – to the categories, everything has been curated by the community.
Following consultation with a board of key changemakers, the Festival of Women’s Football Awards programme has been created with three pots of categories.
The first pot is Grassroots. These categories aim to amplify and celebrate the best people and organisations within the grassroots sector across junior and adult age groups.
The second pot is Off the Pitch. These categories have been selected to make heroes of those doing the work in marketing, commercial and content teams, and those behind the scenes who are helping amplify women’s football.
The final pot is On the Pitch, which will celebrate the stand out professional players in the WSL and Championship, based on their performances in the 2024-25 season.
A prestigious list of judges have already signed up to take part in the inaugural edition of the awards. The list of industry leaders includes Maggie Murphy, former CEO of Lewes FC, commentator Jacqui Oatley, and Tammy Parlour, CEO and Co-Founder of the Women’s Sport Trust.
Nominations are now open from 27 January to 20 March for the Grassroots and On the Pitch categories, and submissions can be made directly on the Festival of Women’s Football Awards website.
The first edition of the Festival of Women’s Football Awards will take place at a central London location on 23 April.
Ahead of a huge summer women’s sport, the Festival of Women’s Football Awards are a huge opportunity for brands to connect with a diverse, engaged and hyper connected women’s football audience.
For more details contact Jeremy.king@festivalofmedia.com ginelle.polini-timineri@festivalofmedia.com or festivalofwomensfootballawards@festivalofmedia.com
About Festival of Media
Festival of Media has been celebrating, amplifying and providing key benchmarking for the best media campaigns on the planet since 2007. It runs six awards programmes around the world – APAC, LatAm, North America, EMEA and Global – bringing together advertisers, media agencies, media owners and adtech companies. It is revered for its thorough judging processes and its inclusive juries around the world. It also owns the 35 year old M&M Global Awards programme.
