With the 15th edition of the European Festival Awards set to take place on January 14th in Groningen, The Netherlands the European Festival Awards is has announced their shortlists for 13 of the ceremony’s categories. For this year, festivals from over 30 countries participated and 300,000 single votes have been cast by the public. This results in 104 shortlisted nominees in 13 distinct categories, not counting the Lifetime Achievement Award, which will be announced separately in the coming days.
The European Festival Awards extended a huge thank you to all of those who applied, voted and otherwise participated in the Awards this year.
Here are the shortlists:
Best Major Festival
Presented by: See Tickets
Colours of Ostrava, CZ
Electric Castle, RO
Exit Festival, RS
Mad Cool Festival, ES
Paléo Festival Nyon, CH
Pinkpop Festival, NL
Rock for People, CZ
Rock Werchter, BE
Summer Breeze Open Air,
DE Sziget Festival, HU
Best Medium-Sized Festival
Presented by: Access All Areas
Azkena Rock Festival, ES
Codru Festival, RO
Dauwpop, NL
Greenfield Festival, CH
Mystic Festival, PL
OpenAir St.Gallen, CH
Orange Warsaw Festival, PL
Pohoda Festival, SK
Sea Star Festival, HR
Sunny Hill Festival, XK
Best Small Festival
Week-end au bord de l’eau Festival, CH
Arsenal Fest, RS
BOtanique, IT
D Festival, MK
Dynamo Metalfest, NL
Jazz in the Park, RO
Maifeld Derby, DE
Seaside Festival, CH
Sofia Live Festival, BG
Stars in Town, CH
The Green Operations Award
Presented by: GO Group
Boom Festival, PT
Øyafestivalen, NO
Roskilde Festival, DK
Štěrkovna Open Music, CZ
Valley of Arts, HU
The Event Safety Award
Presented by: YES Group
Pinkpop, Down The Rabbit Hole, North Sea Jazz & Lowlands, NL Rocco del Schlacko, DE
Rock for People, CZ
Roskilde Festival, DK
The Brand Activation Award
Bilbao BBK Live x Repsol, ES
Lowlands x Bol, NL
Mighty Hoopla x Milkshake Festival x DHL, UK/NL
Øyafestivalen x Unicef, NO
Pinkpop x Libresse, NL
UNTOLD x Visa, RO
The Take a Stand Award
Presented by: Take a Stand
Boom Festival, PT
Øyafestivalen, NO
Pohoda Festival, SK
Sziget Festival, HU
Way Out West, SE
New Kid on the Block 2025
Attila Ernhaft (Valley Of Arts), HU
Kristína Mlynárová (Pohoda Festival), SK
Tudor Tataru (Untold), RO
Line-Up of the Year
Presented by: IQ Magazine
Hellfest, FR Lowlands, NL
Mad Cool Festival, ES
Open’er Festival, PL
Øyafestivalen, NO
Primavera Sound, ES
Pukkelpop, BE
Rock Werchter, BE
Sziget Festival, HU
Way Out West, SE
Promoter of the Year
Presented by: Pollstar
Alter Art, PL
Arcadia Live, AT
Barracuda, AT
EXIT Festival, RS
FKP Scorpio, DE
Friendly Fire, NL
Pohoda Festival, SK
Rock for People, CZ
Sziget Cultural Management, HU
Tomorrowland, NL
Newcomer of the Year
Presented by: ESNS
Addison Rae, US
BUNT., DE
CMAT, IE
Fcukers, US
Kneecap, IE
Lola Young, UK
MJ Lenderman, US
Royel Otis, AU
Sombr, US
Zaho de Sagazan, FR
Agent of the Year
Adele Slater, Wasserman Music
Alex Hardee, Wasserman Music
Chris Ibbs, CAA
David Bradley, WME
Geoff Meall, Wasserman Music J
ames Whitting, Wasserman Music
Jules De Lattre, UTA
Kiki Ressler, KKT Berlin
Ryan Penty, Wasserman Music
Steve Zapp, ITB
The Award for Excellence and Passion
Beatrice Stirnimann, Baloise Session, CH
Chokri Mahassine, Pukkelpop, BE
Cindy Castillo, Mad Cool, ES
Claire O’Neill, A Greener Future UK
Emily Eavis, Glastonbury Festival, UK
Greg Parmley, ILMC, UK
Henrik Bondo Nielsen, Roskilde Festival, DK
Ivan Milivojev & Dušan Kovačević & Bojan Bošković, Exit Festival, RS
James Barton, Superstruct Entertainment, UK
Stephan Thanscheidt, FKP Scorpio Germany, DE
Tickets for the Award Ceremony, set to take place on January 14th, 2026 at De Oosterpoort in Groningen, The Netherlands are on sale. There are two different options:
PREMIUM TICKETS (€80):
8.15pm – 8.30pm: Welcome Drink
8.30pm – 9.45pm: Sit down dinner with a selected variety of shared dinner plates, incl. drinks 9.45pm – 11.30pm: European Festival Awards ceremony
00.00am – 2.00am: Aftershow Party with DJ Mini (FIN), Location: Tuinfoyer – De Oosterpoort
TRIBUNE TICKETS (€25):
A tribune seat at the Award Ceremony (dinner and drinks excluded)
9.45pm – 11.30pm: European Festival Awards Ceremony
00.00am – 2.00am: Aftershow Party with DJ Mini (FIN), Location: Tuinfoyer – De Oosterpoort
Buy Tickets.
