Primavera Sound, Rock Werchter and Dua Lipa’s Sunny Hill nominated for European Festival Awards

Primavera Sound, Rock Werchter, and Dua Lipa’s festival have all been nominated for the European Festival Awards 2024. The nominations come alongside the announcement that Finnish music promoter Juhani Merimaa will win the lifetime achievement award, ahead of the ceremony in January.

Ahead of its 14th edition, nominations have been announced for the 2024 European Festival Awards. Over 50,000 votes have been cast to whittle down the nominees across 13 categories.

The awards show will take place on 15 January 2025 at the Oosterpoort in Groningen, Netherlands. It will take place in its traditional role on the opening day of the annual Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) conference and showcase festival, this year running from 15-18 January.

Nominated for the top gong of Best Major Festival are some of Europe’s biggest annual events, including three Netherlands-based festivals (Down the Rabbit Hole, Lowlands, and Pinkpop) and two Spanish festivals (Mad Cool Festival and Primavera Sound).

It’s a crowning moment for Primavera Sound which recently announced it had sold out of its full weekend tickets to its 2025 Barcelona dates following a line-up reveal including Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, and Chappell Roan.

Alongside these huge names are other exciting festivals such as Czechia’s Colours of Ostrava which has also just announced its line-up for next year, including Sting, Iggy Pop and Justice. Despite a successful year for Glastonbury, neither it nor any other UK festival made the nomination list for Best Major Festival. Last year’s winner, Germany’s Hurricane Festival, was not nominated again, either.

In the Medium-Sized Festival category, Switzerland’s popular Montreux Jazz Festival is joined by Dua Lipa’s own venture Sunny Hill Festival, held annually in Pristina, Kosovo since 2018.

Juhani Merimaa is the first winner announced for the European Festival Awards, taking home the Lifetime Achievement Award. Merimaa is known as the “man who brought rock and roll to Finland” for his five decade-long career in the Finnish music industry.

Merimaa ran one of the country’s most legendary music venues, the Tavastia Klubi, from the 70s before stepping down last year. He has been involved in three major Finnish festivals, as a founder of Ankkarock, a promoter and CEO of Ruisrock and a promoter for Tuska.

Elsewhere in the announcement are the nominees for the Take A Stand Award, annually given to recognise the work a festival has made to improve the industry. Six Belgian festivals – Dranouter, Tomorrowland, Extrema Outdoor, Pukkelpop, Graspop and Rock Werchter – have been nominated as a single entry this year for the We Care A Lot initiative to improve safety at events. The collective has also been nominated for the Event Safety Award.

Last year’s winner Hungary’s Sziget Festival won for its work to prioritise political and social action during the event.

The nominees in full are:

Best Major Festival

• Colours Of Ostrava, CZ

• Down The Rabbit Hole, NL

• Electric Castle, RO

• Lowlands, NL

• Mad Cool Festival, ES

• Open’er Festival, PL

• Paléo Festival, CH

• Pinkpop, NL

• Primavera Sound, ES

• Rock Werchter, BE

Best Medium-Sized Festival

• Dauwpop, NL

• Greenfield Festival, CH

• Montreux Jazz Festival, CH

• Mystic Festival, PL

• OFF Festival, PL

• Orange Warsaw Festival, PL

• Pohoda Festival, SK

• Rock for People, CZ

• Sunny Hill Festival, XK

• Vestrock, NL

Best Small Festival

The Green Operations Award

• ESNS, NL

• NorthSide, DK

• OpenAir St.Gallen, CH

• Øyafestivalen, NO

• We Love Green, FR

The Event Safety Award

• Dranouter, Tomorrowland, Extrema Outdoor, Pukkelpop, Graspop & Rock Werchter, BE

• Habitat Festival, DE

• Movendium, NL

• Paléo Festival, CH

• Rocco del Schlacko, DE

• Timișoara – Capital of Culture, RO

The Brand Activation Award

• Electric Castle & Promenada Nepi Rockcastle, RO

• Lowlands & IKEA, NL

• Pohoda Festival & Isadore + MTBIKER, SK

• Rock for People & Komerční banka, CZ

• Tinderbox & FindLife, DK

The Take a Stand Award

• Dranouter, Tomorrowland, Extrema Outdoor, Pukkelpop, Graspop, Rock Werchter, BE

• EXIT Festival, RS

• Pohoda Festival, SK

• Sonraíz, ES

• Superbloom Festival, DE

New Kid on the Block 2024

• Andrea Blahová, Pohoda Festival, SK

• Annika Böck, Das Fest, DE

• Filip Košťálek, Colours Of Ostrava, CZ

• Isabel Roudsarabi, Höme, DE

Line-Up of the Year

Promoter of the Year

• AEG Presents, UK

• ARTmania Events, RO

• Barracuda Austria, AT

• Boom Festival, PT

• FKP Scorpio, DE

• Gadget Entertainment Group, CH

• Mojo, NL

• Montreux Jazz Festival, CH

• Primavera Sound, ES

• Rock In Rio, PT

Newcomer of the Year

Agent of the Year

• Andy Nees, WME

• Angus Baskerville, Pure Presents

• Anna Bewers, Wasserman Music

• Ian Huffam, X-Ray

• James Whitting, Wassermann Music

• Jon Ollier, One Fiinix

• Jonny Greenfield, WME

• Jules De Lattre, UTA

• Matt Bates, Primary Talent

• Rod MacSween, ITB

The Award for Excellence and Passion

Lifetime Achievement Award