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Ahead of their announcement as part of ESNS in January, nominees for the 2024 European Festival Awards have been revealed. 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 . 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 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 which recently announced it had sold out of its full weekend tickets to its 2025 Barcelona dates following a line-up reveal including , , and .
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:.
