Local musician Mickey Haimes has been nominated for Radio Wigwam’s “Best Folk & Acoustic Act” ahead of the ninth annual Radio Wigwam Awards taking place next year.
The invite-only event aims to celebrate the best in grassroots and independent music globally, with a ceremony to be held at The Bedford in Balham, London, on 22 January.
Mickey will be in competition against Alexander Joseph, galdorcræft, Kate Prendergast, Lost Chimes, Noon Wolf, Taynee Lord, The Far North, The Grand Old Echo, and The Late Party, to claim the award.
Nominated artist Mickey Haimes shared his surprise at the news, stating he found out about his nomination through a social media announcement.
He said: “I was pretty shocked to be honest. I found out after being tagged in a Facebook post announcing the nominees. My first reaction was to check it wasn’t a fake account. Once I’d reassured myself it was legit I got a bit excited.
“It’s a bit surreal, feels like stepping into the unknown. The Guernsey scene is so familiar, my happy place, but it’s cool to venture outside the bubble.”
The local artist is a familiar face amongst music lovers in Guernsey, often performing at venues across the island, however the award comes from a focussed push to properly pursue his musical passions.
Mickey said: “2025 has been a year of culmination. After a decade of messing about with music I finally released my debut EP, ‘Waving in the Mirror’. A lot of hard work went into the writing, recording and promotion so it’s been great to see it all come to life.
“Then having the chance to perform the songs at Chaos, Vale Earth Fair and Castle Nights, to name a few, was the cherry on top. If you were to measure success by the amount of time spent playing music in fields, castles, or while looking out to sea, then it’s been my most successful year to date.”
With a successful EP released in 2025, and 2026 starting the year with an award winning chance, Mickey told the Express there was plenty on the horizon to be excited about:
“New songs are on the cards for 2026. Putting the EP out there was, in part, about closing a chapter and making space for new ideas, new projects.
“Throughout the release I found maintaining an oline presence to be a challenge, quite draining to be honest, so afterwards I took a few months off social media to step away from that side of things and, essentially, to fall back in love with making music for the sake of making music.
“So that’s the goal for the new year, to play music with freedom and enjoyment, and anything after that is a bonus.”
You can vote for Mickey Haimes, and his chance to secure an award winning start to 2026 on the Radio WigWam website HERE.