festival awards

The best music festivals, artists and promoters of 2013 were revealed at the 5th annual European Festival Awards, which took place at Groningen’s De Oosterport in The Netherlands, marking the opening night of Eurosonic Noorderslag. The ceremony also included some of the hottest new European artists with performances from Irish band of the moment Kodaline, Germany’s Milky Chance and Prata Vetra from Latvia who closed the show.

Germany proved it is a force to be reckoned within the festival scene, scooping a total of 5 awards; Best Indoor Festival going to Metal Hammer Paradise, Berlin Festival won Best Line Up, Melt! Festival got Best Medium-Sized Festival with the two most important industry-facing awards Promoter of the Year going to FKP Scorpio and the Lifetime achievement Award to Marek Lieberberg, founder of the twin Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park festival.

Eastern Europe also did well in this year’s awards with the highly coveted Best Major Festival Award going to Serbia’s EXIT Festival, who will celebrate their 15th Anniversary in 2014. B.my.Lake in Hungary took the Best New Festival title and FUSION Festival in Romania won the Best Small Festival Award.

The host country of the awards also scooped an award with Holland’s Lowlands being named the Artists’ Favourite Festival.

The Green Operations Award went to Way Out West in Sweden and Switzerland’s Paleo Festival won the new YES GROUP Health & Safety Innovation Award which recognises innovative ways festivals have enhanced health and safety within their spaces.

Artists were also recognised for their contribution to the European festival scene with the UK’s Arctic Monkeys winning the award for Headliner of The Year, Newcomer of the Year went stateside to Las Vegas band Imagine Dragons and the Festival Anthem went to Daft Punk for ‘Get Lucky’ with the one and only Nile Rogers recording a special thank-you message for the show.

James Drury, MD of Festival Awards Ltd, which organises the Awards said: “Festivals are immensely popular with people across Europe and it’s been a delight to toast the achievements of a great 2013 with the best in the continent. A huge congratulations to all the winners, and to all those finalists. It’s a great accolade to make it into the top 10, as we had hundreds of festivals take part this year.”

Christof Huber, YOUROPE, adds: “It’s great to see how the awards have grown over the past 5 years and to see so many festivals taking part, which is testament to the thriving European festival scene.”

Presented in association with YOUROPE and Eurosonic Noorderslag the European Festival Awards are the only pan-European body solely dedicated to recognising the contributions and achievements of the event organisers and performing artists that generate billions of Euros for local economies and brighten up the summer for tens of millions of festival-goers each year.

This year the winners were decided by a combination of public votes and the EFA jury – made up of journalists, booking agents, festival organisers – who had a 25 per cent say in the final outcome of the public voted categories.  More than 620,000 votes from festival fans all over the world we cast, showing that passion for festivals across the continent continues to grow.

The Winners…

YES Group H&S Innovation Award
In association with the YES Group (logo) and ICM&SS (logo)
Paleo Festival

Best New Festival
B.my.Lake

Festival Anthem of the Year
Daft Punk – Get Lucky

Best Indoor Festival
Metal Hammer Paradise

The Green Operations Award
In association with the GO Group (Logo)
Way Out West

Best European Festival Line-Up
in association with Company NA
Berlin Festival

Newcomer of the Year
In association with Eurosonic Noorderslag
Imagine Dragons

Artist’s Favourite European Festival
Lowlands

Headliner of the Year
Arctic Monkeys

Promoter Of The Year
FKP Scorpio

Best Small Festival
FUSION Festival

Best Medium-Sized Festival
In association with Eventbrite
Melt! Festival

Best Major Festival
in association with Intelligent Venue Solutions
EXIT Festival

Lifetime Achievement Award
Marek Lieberberg

-Ends-

 

Notes to Editors:

About Festival Awards Europe:
Established in 2009, in co-operation between Festival Awards Ltd,, Yourope (the European Festival Association) and Eurosonic Noorderslag, Festival Awards Europe is the only event solely dedicated to recognising the contributions and achievements of the event organisers and performing artists that generate billions of Euros for local economies and brighten up the summer for tens of millions of festival-goers each year. Decided by a combination of public vote and industry juries, the awards are presented at a sold out ceremony taking place at Groningen’s De Oosterport in The Netherlands. eu.festivalawards.com

About Yourope:
Founded in November 1998 – Today representing over 80 members from 26 countries. Yourope members are dedicated to improving the European festival scene in terms of: working conditions; health and safety issues; environmental awareness; exchange of knowledge and information; promoting the cross-border exchange of live music talent. The overall aim of the association is to collaborate, share experiences and to pinpoint areas that would benefit from a joint approach. Having gained respect within the industry and at government level, Yourope also has the power to lobby for all legal and industry issues relating to the European festival industry on behalf of its members and together with other associations in the live music business. Yourope also focuses on other key issues for festivals –such exchange of information regarding marketing and sponsoring, contracts, production riders or radio/TV/internet rights and more. http://www.yourope.org

About Eurosonic Noorderslag:
Eurosonic Noorderslag is the key exchange and networking platform for European music, with a proven track record for helping new acts break into the International music scene. Selling out each year Eurosonic Noorderslag attracts over 3,200 delegates, with showcases by more than 300 artists and a conference programme featuring 150 panels, keynote speakers, interviews, workshops, dinners, parties and meetings and the latest developments in the interactive media sector. www.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl

Contact:
For more information, photos or interview requests contact Nikki McNeill at Global Publicity nikki@46.32.240.39

View online press kit here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/047qmqgqbs1muyi/YPbsY_Rlnt