Open’er wins big at the European Festival Awards

Open’er Festival in Poland has been crowned the Best Major Festival at the European Festival Awards 2024.

Taking place as part of the opening night (15 January) of Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS), an annual music festival and industry convention held annually in Groningen, the Netherlands, the European Festival Awards celebrated their 14th edition once again in the Oosterpoort.

Festivals from over 30 European nations were represented among this year’s nominees. Across the 13 categories, over 300,000 votes were cast to decide the ultimate winners.

Beating out some of Europe’s biggest names to the top gong, Poland’s Open’er Festival took home Best Major Festival. First held in Warsaw in 2002, Open’er has since moved to Kosakowo Airport (Babie Doły Military Airport) in Gdynia.

It’s the largest music festival in Poland and brought in over 130,000 people for the 2024 edition. It boasted an impressive line-up with wide cross-genre appeal through headliners Dua Lipa, Foo Fighters, Doja Cat, and Hozier. Next year’s edition already looks spectacular with Linkin Park, Massive Attack, and FKA Twigs already announced.

“Sometimes I feel it’ll never happen and when I was absolutely sure we wouldn’t win, we won!”, Nikolai Ziolkowski, Open’er Festival promoter and Alter Art CEO told Euronews in shock. “It’s a very special moment. For continental Europe, it’s absolutely the main award.”

In a nice change from the dominance of pop, electronic and rock festivals, Montreux Jazz Festival won Best Medium-Sized Festival. Held on the Lake Geneva shoreline, Montreux has long been a mecca for music lovers since its founding in 1967.

Montreux has expanded from only hosting jazz acts in the 70s, but the festival’s dedication to curating a high quality schedule – last year’s featured everything from a Jon Batiste opener to a retro Duran Duran closer – made it an unmissable edition.

Finally in the overall festival categories, Belgium’s Gladiolen Festival won Best Small Festival. Run since 2000, it’s known for attracting the best of Belgium’s upcoming talent as well as providing a free street festival on the Saturday for the locals of Olen.

Although Colours of Ostravia didn’t manage to win Best Major Festival where it was nominated, Filip Košťálek, the Czech festival’s creative manager & programmer, will be pleased to take home the New Kid on the Block award. He’s worked with the festival since 2015 but was promoted to this top position in 2022.

Anna Brewers from Wasserman won the Agent of the Year Award. “It’s Anna’s award. I’m a bit embarrassed that they took the picture of me as it’s her award,” Alex Hardee from Wasserman, who picked up the Agent of the Year Award in place of Anna Brewers, said. “Her flight got cancelled,” he explained. “It’s her first award, she’s very happy about it.”

The winner of the Green Operations Award was the appropriately titled We Love Green. The French festival is known for its pledge to put eco responsibility at the forefront of their approach.

In the political category, Serbia’s EXIT Festival won the Take A Stand Award. The Novi Sad festival has won Best Major Festival twice before, in 2013 and 2017, and this award cements the festival’s roots in social activism, originally founded as part of the student movement fighting for democracy in the Balkans in 2000.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Best Major Festival

Open’er Festival (Poland)

Best Medium-Sized Festival

Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland)

Best Small Festival

Gladiolen Festival (Belgium)

Green Operations Award

We Love Green (France)

Event Safety Award

Timișoara – Capital of Culture (Romania)

Brand Activation Award

Lowlands with IKEA (Netherlands)

Take a Stand Award

EXIT Festival (Serbia)

New Kid on the Block 2024

Filip Košťálek, Colours of Ostrava, Czechia

Line-Up of the Year

Hellfest (France)

Promoter of the Year

Gadget Entertainment Group (Switzerland)

Newcomer of the Year

Benson Boone (USA)

Agent of the Year

Anna Bewers (Wasserman Music)

Award for Excellence and Passion

Vlad Yaremchuk & Music Saves Ukraine

Lifetime Achievement Award

Juhani Merimaa