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The great and the good of the continent’s festival scene were honoured at the 2024 European Festival Awards.
Held last night as part of the Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) conference and showcase in Groningen, the Netherlands, the ceremony saw 14 winners crowned, including Poland’s Open’er (Best Major Festival), France’s Hellfest (Line-Up of the Year) and Vlad Yaremchuk & Music Saves Ukraine (Award for Excellence and Passion).
Festivals from over 30 countries took part, with more than 300,000 single votes cast by the public. Recipients included Lifetime Achievement Award winner Juhani Merimaa, who has earned himself the title of the “man who brought rock and roll to Finland” for his work on festivals such as Ankkarock, Ruisrock and Tuska.
Merima was also involved in running Finnish music venue Tavastia Klubi since the 70s up until 2023 when he stepped down as promoter and CEO.
Here are all the winners in the 14 categories of the European Festival Awards 2024
The Take a Stand Award
Presented by: Take a Stand
EXIT Festival, RS
Line-Up of the Year
Presented by: IQ Magazine
Hellfest, FR
The Event Safety Award
Presented by: YES Group
Timișoara – Capital of Culture, RO
Agent of the Year
Anna Bewers, Wasserman Music
Best Small Festival
Gladiolen Festival, BE
Newcomer of the Year
Presented by: ESNS
Benson Boone, US
The Brand Activation Award
Lowlands & IKEA, NL
Best Medium-Sized Festival
Montreux Jazz Festival, CH
The Green Operations Award
Presented by: GO Group
We Love Green, FR
Best Major Festival
Presented by: See Tickets
Open’er Festival, PL
The Award for Excellence and Passion
Vlad Yaremchuk & Music Saves Ukraine, UA
Promoter of the Year
Presented by: Pollstar
Gadget Entertainment Group, CH
New Kid on the Block 2024
Presented by: DIY Magazine
Filip Košťálek, Colours Of Ostrava, CZ
Lifetime Achievement Award
Juhani Merimaa, FI
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The European Festival Awards has announced that this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Juhani Merimaa, an industry stalwart credited with bringing rock and roll to Finland.
With a career that spans over five decades, Merimaa has been involved in running Finland’s most legendary music venue Tavastia Klubi from the 70s to 2023 when he stepped down from the position of promoter and CEO.
He has also played a central role in Finland’s festival scene, as a co-founder of Ankkarock and former promoter and CEO of Ruisrock.
Merimaa also promoted the first edition of Tuska Open Air at Tavastia and later became a partner and board member of the now Superstruct-managed festival.
While he is now mostly retired from everyday business, he is still active as a mentor for many in the Finnish music industry and previously appeared on one of Finland’s most popular music TV shows “Tähdet tähdet” where he was a jury member for five seasons.
Juhani Merimaa is an industry stalwart credited with bringing rock and roll to Finland
Last year’s Lifetime Achievement award went to former Eurosonic conference chief Ruud Berends.
Merimaa will receive the award at the 15 January 2025 ceremony at de Oosterpoort in Groningen, The Netherlands, on the first day of ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag). The shortlists for 13 of the ceremony’s categories have also been announced and can be seen here.
ESNS recently added a new wave of speakers to the conference programme including ATC Live’s Alex Bruford, Mad Cool’s Cindy Castillo, FKP Scorpio’s Rauha Kyyrö, Øyafestivalen’s Claes Olsen, Spotify’s Annika Walsh and BBC Music Introducing’s Kelly Betts.
The 2025 programme focuses on topics such as the impact of AI on the music industry, the future of streaming, achieving sustainability goals for festivals by 2030, the fairness of dynamic pricing, activism among artists and festivals, the effect of private equity on business, and the devastating impact of rising costs and lack of personnel in the live music industry.
Previously announced speakers include Sumit Bothra (SB3 Artist Management), Alex Hardee (Wasserman Music), Jess Iszatt (BBC) and Katie Melua (artist). Italy was unveiled as the Focus Country for the 2025 showcase.
ESNS takes place between 15–18 January in Groningen, the Netherlands. The full conference programme can be found here and delegate passes can be purchased here.
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The 2023 European Festival Awards (EFAs) officially opened proceedings at Eurosonic Noorderslag last night, with hundreds of festival organisers and staff attending the ceremony in Groningen’s Oosterport venue in the Netherlands.
Hosted by A Greener Festival’s Claire O’Neill and IQ Magazine editor Gordon Masson, the 13th EFAs saw festivals from more than 30 countries participating and 300,000 votes cast by the public.
With live performances from Berry Galazka (PL), Kingfishr (IE) and Picture Parlour (UK), the event crowned Wasserman Music’s Tom Schroeder and Poland’s Alter Art as Agent and Promoter of the Year, respectively, while Lowlands promoter Eric van Eerdenburg collected the award for Excellence and Passion.
FKP Scorpio’s Hurricane Festival was named Best Major Festival, Slovakia’s Pohoda awarded Best Medium-Sized Festival and Germany’s Maifield Derby taking Best Small Festival. Other festivals recognised included Hungary’s Sziget (Take a Stand Award), the UK’s Glastonbury (Line-Up of the Year), Switzerland’s OpenAir St.Gallen (Event Safety Award) and Portugal’s Boom Festival (Green Operations Award).
However, the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for former Eurosonic conference chief Ruud Berends who was given the Lifetime Achievement award. Referring to his exit from the event, he noted, “Life is full of surprises,” before delivering an emotional speech to the festival awards audience.
“In our more and more money-driven industry and world, where shareholders rule, it is important not to forget who we are”
“Receiving a lifetime achievement award sort of sounds like the end of a career, but it is not for me. I am not done playing and I love what I do,” he said. “I do love working with and for my current clients and friends; especially IFF and Greg Parmley in London… Neill [Dixon] from Canadian Music Week in Toronto; Nuno & Rui from the lovely West Waylab in Guimaraes Portugal; and Ruth from the new So Alive Music Conference in Sofia. Thank you for your trust and let’s build something great together.”
He added: “In our more and more money-driven industry and world, where shareholders rule, it is important not to forget who we are, where we come from, how we started, our love for music, the artists and especially the emerging artists who really need our support… I am happy, proud and grateful receiving this life time achievement award, especially as it comes from the festival family.”
Organised by Yourope, the European festival association, the ceremony’s presenting partner was See Tickets, sponsors included EPS and 3F, and the media partner was IQ Magazine.
The full list of winners was as follows:
Take a Stand Award (Presented by Take a Stand): Sziget Festival, HU
Line-Up of the Year (Presented by IQ Magazine): Glastonbury, GB
Event Safety Award (Presented by YES Group): OpenAir St.Gallen, CH
Agent of the Year: Tom Schroeder, Wasserman Music
Best Small Festival: Maifeld Derby, DE
Newcomer of the Year (Presented by ESNS): Balming Tiger, KR
Brand Activation Award: Heroes & Hype Festivals & Unilever Axe, DE
Best Medium-Sized Festival: Pohoda Festival, SK
Green Operations Award (Presented by GO Group): Boom Festival, PT
Best Major Festival (Presented by See Tickets): Hurricane Festival, DE
Award for Excellence and Passion: Eric van Eerdenburg, NL
Promoter of the Year: Alter Art, PL
Lifetime Achievement Award: Ruud Berends, NL
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Denmark’s Roskilde Festival, the Netherlands’ Mojo Concerts and Atlas Ukraine were among the big winners at last night’s European Festival Awards (EFA).
The in-person ceremony, held at De Oosterpoort in Groningen, the Netherlands as part of Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS), returned to celebrate the best of the 2022 season after a forced hiatus due to the pandemic.
Already announced as winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award, Roskilde also triumphed in two other categories at the EFA’s 12th edition – Best Major Festival and The Impossible without Youth Award.
In their acceptance speech, the team praised the festival’s army of volunteers (“We couldn’t do it without them”), along with the “best audience in the world”. “We are so proud and so honoured,” they added. “Thank you for seeing the ambition and the idea and the community behind this.”
Elsewhere, Atlas Festival & Music Saves UA received a standing ovation when picking up the Take A Stand Award, while Mojo collected Promoter of the Year.
“Two years of corona showed how difficult it is to organise the things we love”
Germany’s Superbloom was named Best New Festival. “Two years of corona showed how difficult it is to organise the things we love,” said Superbloom organiser Fruzsina Szép. “And to start a new brand, even more so.”
X-ray Touring’s Josh Javor dedicated his Agent of the Year gong to his mentor, “the one and only legend”, Steve Strange and recalled the times Strange took him to Eurosonic. “Because of him I didn’t know there were panels for three years because all we did was drink, watch bands and sleep,” he joked.
The Award for Excellence & Passion, meanwhile, went to festival veteran Holger Jan Schmidt. Dubbed a “A true servant for the cause”, Schmidt said: “I can only do something with passion. Burnout goes hand in hand with passion. I think we should all take a look at ourselves. How much can we do. How much passion can we invest?”
Festivals from more than 30 countries participated in the awards process, with 300,000 single votes cast by the public, resulting in 124 shortlisted nominees in 15 categories, not counting the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The full list of winners is as follows:
The Take a Stand Award
Atlas Festival & Music Saves UA (Ukraine)
Best New Festival
Superbloom (Germany)
The Impossible without Youth Award
Roskilde Festival (Denmark)
Best Indoor Festival
Iceland Airwaves (Iceland)
Line-Up of the Year
Hellfest (France)
The Health & Safety Innovation Award
Watt en Schlick Fest (Germany)
Agent of the Year
Josh Javor (X-Ray Touring)
Best Small Festival
Roadburn (The Netherlands)
Newcomer of the Year
Fred Again (UK)
The Brand Activation Award
Wacken Open Air (Germany) & Krombacher
Best Medium-Sized Festival
Best Kept Secret (The Netherlands)
The Green Operations Award
Rock Werchter (Belgium)
Best Major Festival
Roskilde Festival (Denmark)
The Award for Excellence & Passion
Holger Jan Schmidt
Promoter of the Year
Mojo (The Netherlands)
The Lifetime Achievement Award
Roskilde Festival (Denmark)
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The European Festival Awards is slated to return at next year’s Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) in the Netherlands, after a pandemic-induced hiatus.
Taking place on 18 January 2023, in De Oosterpoort, Groningen, the 12th edition will honor the best major, medium-sized, and small festivals; best indoor festival; and best new festival.
Self-registration for the awards is now open, with other awards including line-up of the year, newcomer of the year, the lifetime achievement award, agent of the year and promoter of the year.
The 12th edition will honor the best major, medium-sized, and small festivals; best indoor festival; and best new festival
Established in 2009 by Festival Awards, Yourope and ESNS, the last European Festival Awards ceremony took place on January 15, 2020 in Groningen.
The 2020 awards saw Wacken Open Air and Roskilde Festival pick up the biggest prizes of the night – best major festival and best line-up respectively. The Netherlands’ Mojo (Pinkpop, North Sea Jazz, Down the Rabbit Hole, Lowlands) won best promoter, with CAA’s Mike Greek earning the agent of the year award.
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Glastonbury Festival, Open’er, Electric Castle, No Sleep Festival and WME’s Lucy Dickins were among those to pick up prizes at the 2019 European Festival Awards, held this evening at Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) in Groningen, the Netherlands.
Hosted by IQ’s Gordon Masson and A Greener Festival’s Claire O’Neill, the award ceremony saw festivals recognised across 15 categories, including best major, medium and small festivals and line-up of the year, as well as awards for green efforts, health and safety innovation and brand activations.
Open’er Festival, organised by independent Polish promoter Alter Art, was the evening’s biggest winner, taking home the prizes for best major festival and best brand activation for its collaboration with Netflix’s Stranger Things.
Representatives from Romania enjoyed a successful evening, with Romanian festivals Electric Castle and Jazz in the Park taking the best medium-sized festival and best small festival gongs respectively, and Codruta Vulcu, the founder of 2018’s best small festival, ARTmania, winning the award for excellence and passion.
Open’er Festival, organised by independent Polish promoter Alter Art, was the evening’s biggest winner
German events also put in a good showing, with Hamburg’s Reeperbahn Festival winning best indoor event and Das Fest, which takes place in the German city of Karlsruhe, receiving the Take a Stand award for its commitment to social activism.
Other major prizes went to the UK’s Glastonbury Festival, last year headlined by Stormzy, the Killers and the Cure, for line-up of the year, No Sleep Festival in Serbia for best new festival and to WME’s Lucy Dickins for agent of the year.
As previously announced, Holger Hübner and Thomas Jensen, the co-founders of Wacken Open Air – the winner of best major festival at the 2018 awards – received the lifetime achievement gong at this year’s ceremony.
A full list of European Festival Awards 2019 winners can be found below:
Best major festival
Open’er Festival (Poland)
Best medium-sized festival
Electric Castle (Romania)
Best small festival
Jazz in the Park (Romania)
Best indoor festival
Reeperbahn Festival (Germany)
Best new festival
No Sleep Festival (Serbia)
Line-up of the year
Glastonbury (United Kingdom)
Newcomer of the year
Billie Eilish (US)
The lifetime achievement award
Holger Hübner and Thomas Jensen (Wacken Open Air)
The green operations award
OpenAir St Gallen (Switzerland)
The health and safety innovation award
Balaton Sound (Hungary)
The brand activation award
Open’er Festival (Poland) & Netflix’s Stranger Things
The Take a Stand award
Das Fest (Germany)
The award for excellence and passion
Codruta Vulcu
Promoter of the year
Wepromote (Switzerland)
Agent of the year
Lucy Dickins (WME)
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Holger Hübner and Thomas Jensen, co-founders of German metal festival Wacken Open Air, will receive the lifetime achievement award at the 11th European Festival Awards (EFAs) on 15 January 2020.
The other nominees for the awards, which take place during Eurosonic Noorderslag in Groningen, Netherlands, were revealed last week, with over 350,000 votes cast across the 14 other categories.
Jensen, the bassist in a band called Skyline, and Hübner, who was working as a DJ, co-founded Wacken Open Air in 1990.
Nearly 30 years on, the festival is arguably the world’s most important metal/hard rock event – Wacken 2020 sold all 75,000 tickets in the space of a few hours – and their company, ICS, also includes a roster of other hard rock festivals, a touring division, a booking agency (Seaside Touring), ticketing platform Metaltix and the Wacken Foundation, a nonprofit which provides tour support and other assistance to young bands.
Last year’s EFA lifetime achievement award was collected by Eurosonic founder Peter Smidt, with Wacken picking up best major festival and Roskilde Festival being awarded line-up of the year.
Read IQ’s special 30th-anniversary feature on Wacken Open Air here.
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The nominees for the 11th edition of the European Festival Awards have been revealed, with the ceremony due to take place on 15 January at Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) in the Netherlands.
Over 350,000 votes have been cast for the 2019 awards across the main public categories, which include best major, medium and small festivals, as well as the best new and best indoor events.
The awards will present accolades across 15 categories in total, with the shortlists available for all but one category – the lifetime achievement award – which last year went to ESNS co-founder Peter Smidt.
The nominees for the 11th edition of the European Festival Awards have been revealed
The shortlists can be viewed here across categories including the year’s best line-up, promoter, agent, new artist and brand activation, as well as awards for social activism, excellence and passion, and green operations.
Last year’s awards saw Wacken Open Air and Roskilde Festival pick up the biggest prizes of the night – best major festival and best line-up respectively. The Netherlands’ Mojo (Pinkpop, North Sea Jazz, Down the Rabbit Hole, Lowlands) won best promoter, with CAA’s Mike Greek earning the agent of the year award.
Tickets for the 2019 awards ceremony at De Oosterpoort, Groningen, are available here, with tribune tickets priced at €30. Premium tickets, which include access to the cocktail hour, a three-course dinner, a seat at the awards show and access to the after party, cost €100.
See all the winners from last year’s European Festival Awards here.
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Pohoda, Wacken Open Air, NorthSide, Mojo Concerts and CAA’s Mike Greek were among the winners at last night’s tenth-anniversary European Festival Awards 2018, held at Eurosonic Noorderslag in Groningen.
Hosted for the final time by IQ editor Gordon Masson and Glastonbury Festival/Yourope lawyer Ben Challis, the awards once again recognised excellence in 15 categories, with the biggest prizes of the night – best major festival and line-up of the year – going to Judas Priest-headlined Wacken Open Air and Roskilde Festival, respectively.
Roskilde was a double winner, also taking home the health and safety award for the second year running, with Pohoda Festival winning the Take a Stand Award and its festival director, Michal Kascak, the prize for excellence and passion.
The Netherlands’ Mojo (Pinkpop, North Sea Jazz, Down the Rabbit Hole) won best promoter, while Denmark’s NorthSide was recognised as the best medium-sized festival and Romania’s ARTmania the best small event.
Pohoda, Wacken Open Air, NorthSide, Mojo Concerts and CAA’s Mike Greek were among the winners
As previously announced, Eurosonic Noorderslag co-founder and outgoing creative director Peter Smidt took home the lifetime achievement award.
Performances on the night came from Grant and Bishop Briggs, with the main artist’s award, for best newcomer, being awarded to Greta Van Fleet.
A full list of winners is below.
Best New Festival
Rolling Stone Park
The Health & Safety Innovation Award
Roskilde Festival
Agent of the Year
Mike Greek, CAA
Best Small Festival
ARTmania Festival
The Green Operations Award
DGTL Amsterdam
Promoter of the Year
Mojo Concerts
Line-up of the Year
Roskilde Festival
Best Indoor Festival
WOS Festival
The Take a Stand Award
Pohoda Festival
The Brand Activation Award
Fortum at Ruisrock
Newcomer of the Year
Greta van Fleet
Best Medium-Sized Festival
NorthSide Festival
The Award for Excellence & Passion
Michal Kascak, Pohoda Festival
Best Major Festival
Wacken Open Air
The Lifetime Achievement Award
Peter Smidt
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Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS), the largest showcase of promising European music talent, kicks off next Wednesday in Groningen, the Netherlands. This year’s festival promises to host 350 acts and more than 4,000 conference delegates, including festival bookers, expert panellists and other important industry figures.
ESNS serves as a key exchange for emerging European artists, combining a packed daytime conference schedule with an equally jammed evening live music programme. The De Oosterport conference centre in Groningen acts as the festival hub, a centre for industry networking, engaged debate and live music expertise.
Each year, the festival concentrates on showcasing talent from a specific focus nation. For ESNS 2019, the focus becomes double, with acts from both the Czech Republic and Slovakia taking centre stage.
ESNS serves as a key exchange for emerging European artists, combining a packed daytime conference schedule with an equally jammed evening live music programme
The festival opens on 16 January with the European Festival Awards (EFA), at which Peter Smidt, ESNS founder and creative director, will accept the prestigious lifetime achievement award.
Hungary’s Sziget Festival is once again nominated for the best major festival award, having taken home the prize for line-up of the year at last year’s EFAs. It contends for the top spot with Open’er Festival, Hellfest, Pinkpop and Roskilde Festival, among others. CAA agent and 2018 Music Industry Trusts (MITs) award winner Emma Banks appears among the nominees vying for success in the agent of the year category.
The European Talent Exchange Programme (ETEP) returns to ESNS following another record-breaking year spreading and promoting the newest and best in European music. Festival shows played through the programme numbered 457 last summer. The programme’s 2018 winner, Superorganism, appears alongside fellow ETEP hits Zeal & Ardor and Sigrid on EFA’s newcomer of the year nominee list.
A change to proceedings sees the Music Moves Europe Talent Awards replace the long-running Europe Border Breaker Awards. The inaugural awards look to support new acts, offering winners the chance to play live at ESNS, and providing them with tailor-made training programmes, as well as financial help. British artists Bishop Briggs and Pale Waves find themselves among the triumphant 12 winners revealed in November.
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