Nominations now open for Festival Awards Europe 2011

Nominations are now open for this year’s Festival Awards Europe, whereby festivals can put themselves forward from October 4-19th.

Following its well-received second edition in January, the event, presented in association with YOUROPE and Eurosonic Noorderslag, will return in 2012 with the gala awards show, which will open Eurosonic Noorderslag on Wednesday 11th January at De Oosterpoort in Groningen. Festivals wishing to nominate themselves can do so by completing the online form at eu.festivalawards.com/apply.

Decided by a combination of both public vote and industry juries, these Awards are the only pan-European body dedicated to recognising the contributions and achievements of the event organisers and performing artists that generate billions of Euros for local economies each year.

There is also a twist to proceedings with the 2011 awards, as festivals that won a category last year will not be eligible for the same award, allowing more festivals the opportunity to win and benefit from the awards.

Categories this year include: Best Major European Festival, Best Medium-Sized European Festival, Best Small European Festival, Best New European Festival, Best Indoor Festival, Best European Festival Line-Up *, YOUROPE Green ‘N’ Clean Festival Of The Year, Artist’s Favourite European Festival *, Best Newcomer, Best Headliner, Festival Anthem of the Year, Promoter Of The Year, Yourope Lifetime Achievement Award *

Awards marked * are judged by a panel of industry experts and journalists.

Public voting in this year’s Awards will commence on 24th October and close on 2nd December.

James Drury, Festival Awards managing director, said: “The European Festival Awards is a celebration of the incredibly diverse festival industry across the continent, and I’m looking forward to welcoming events from every country to take part. Last year’s incredible number of voters shows just how much passion fans have for these events and artists and it’s time for them to have their say on their favourites again.”

Here is a list of last year’s winners:

Best Major European Festival: Heineken Open’er – Poland

Best Medium-Sized European Festival: Electric Picnic Music & Arts Festival – Ireland

Best Small European Festival: 5 Tauron Nowa Muzyka Festival – Poland

Best New European Festival: Temple House Festival – Ireland

Best Indoor Festival: Rolling Stone Weekender – Germany

Best European Festival Line-Up: Oxegen – Ireland

Best Newcomer: Florence and the Machine

Best Headliner: Muse

Festival Anthem of the Year: Muse – Uprising

YOUROPE Green ‘N’ Clean Festival Of The Year: Boom Festival – Portugal

Artist’s Favourite European Festival: Melt! – Germany

Promoter Of The Year in association with Virtual Festivals Europe: Kilimanjaro/K2

YOUROPE Lifetime Achievement Award: Leif Skov Of The Year