The Dads’ Network wins a prestigious gong.
The National Outdoor Events Association (NOEA) closed its landmark 45th anniversary year with its biggest-ever Awards Ceremony, celebrating the largest number of entries in the organisation’s history and a sell-out audience at the Roman Baths and Pump Room in Bath on 26th November.
The 2025 NOEA Awards brings together the UK’s leading event professionals for a night that reflects the strength, creativity and resilience of the outdoor events industry. In the category ‘Small Event of the Year’ DadFest came out on top of the nine shortlisted finalists from across the UK.
…we won with some quality dad dancing
DadFest is run by The Dads’ Network CIC, a social enterprise based in Totnes. The Network has run DadFest since 2014 and in 2025 it ran five DadFest around the UK. CEO of The Dads’ Network, Dr. Ian Blackwell, who accepted the award on the night, said: “What an amazing evening. As a small social enterprise, it was hugely rewarding to be recognised by the national festival and events industry. Being awarded ‘Best Small Event’ in the country is an immense accolade and reflects the hard work of staff, volunteers and suppliers who supported DadFests in Devon, Sussex, Wales, Yorkshire and Derbyshire during the year. There was quite a bit of celebrating when we won with some quality dad dancing – something we are experts at! We won this award back in 2105 and ten years later we are still creating memorable, award-winning events for dads and children. We are already planning for DadFest in 2026 with three confirmed and tickets on sale.”
DadFest offers a weekend full of activities for all father figures and their children. This unique festival takes place over two days with a range of great activities including archery, storytelling, bat walks, kid’s disco, campfire cooking, music workshops, star-gazing, water rockets, slip n slide, circus skills, Forest School activities, fishing, pizza-making, and award-winning food and lots more. The festival is renowned for its highlight event – the ‘World Dad Dancing Championship’, hotly contested by grooving dads, much to the sheer embarrassment of their kids.
Reflecting on the night, Susan Tanner, CEO of NOEA, said: “To end our 45th anniversary year with record entries and a record audience is an extraordinary achievement for the events community. The calibre of this year’s winners shows the innovation, passion and talent that continues to shape the UK’s outdoor events industry. Judges remarked that standards across the board had risen dramatically, making this year’s decisions the most challenging yet. Against this backdrop of exceptional quality, the evening’s winners provided a powerful snapshot of an industry setting new benchmarks in excellence. DadFest stood out because of the huge amount of support for this event and the impact it has on the dads and children who attend. The 2025 Awards offered a fitting and uplifting conclusion to NOEA’s anniversary year, a celebration not just of winners, but of an industry moving forward with ambition, confidence, and purpose”.
For a full list of winners, you can follow this link.