"A very special moment" Open'er wins Best Major Festival 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.”

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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