Eastern Europe has dominated this year’s European Festival Awards, with events in Poland, Hungary and Montenegro taking top prizes at a ceremony last night.
Hungary’s Sziget festival was crowned the best major festival, reclaiming the title it won in 2012. The week-long event, which takes place on an island on the Danube just outside Budapest, drew 415,000 visitors last year for a lineup that included the Prodigy, La Roux and Outkast.
The prize for the best mid-size festival was awarded to Sea Dance festival in Montenegro, an electro party on a beach on the Adriatic – organised by the team behind the renowned Exit festival in Novi Sad, Serbia.
Tauron Nowa Muzyka, a dance festival in Poland that takes place in a closed-down coal mine, won the best small festival award, raising the profile of the event, which is relatively unknown outside of the country.
The winners were chosen by a combination of public votes and a panel of journalists, booking agents and festival organisers who had a 25% say in the results. This year more than 1.2m votes from festivalgoers around the world were cast, with festivals in more than 35 countries taking part.
Full list of winners
Best small festival
Tauron Nowa Muzyka (Poland)
Best indoor festival
I Love Techno (Belgium)
Green Operations Award in association with Yourope and The GO Group
Roskilde festival and Stop Wasting Food (Denmark)
Best newcomer
Stromae (Belgium)
Artists’ favourite festival
Primavera Sound (Spain)
Best new festival
Down The Rabbit Hole (the Netherlands)
Anthem of the year
Arctic Monkeys – R U Mine
The Health and Safety Innovation Award in association with The YES Group and ICM&SS
MOJO/LOC festivals (the Netherlands)
Best medium-size festival in association with Eventbrite
Sea Dance festival (Montenegro)
Promoter of the year
Live Nation (Belgium)
Best lineup
Glastonbury festival (UK)
Best headline act
Arctic Monkeys (UK)
Best major festival in association with PlugGo
Sziget festival (Hungary)
The Lifetime Achievement Award
Melvin Benn (UK)
The Award for Excellence And Passion in association with Yourope
Rikke Øxner (Denmark)
