Judging Europe’s Festivals

Last year’s European Festival Awards featured more than 300 festivals from 32 countries attracting 500,000-plus votes, and this year it will likely be bigger.

The festivals have until Sept. 27 to submit themselves for a range of categories covering events of all shapes and sizes.

A combination of public vote and industry juries will them sift through the shortlists and come up with the winners. The public voting for the 2013 winners will run from Oct. 1 to Nov. 1.

The 2012 winners included Belgium’s Tomorrowland (best major fest), Hungary’s Balaton Sound (best medium-sized fest) and best small festival went to Tauron New Music Festival in Poland. Denmark’s Roskilde was Artists’ Favourite Festival and France’s We Love Green was confirmed as the greenest.

The awards ceremony, which is put together by Virtual Festivals and European festivals association Yourope, will be at De Oosterpoort in Groningen, The Netherlands, Jan. 15.

It’s the opening event for Eurosonic-Noorderslag, which runs to Jan. 18. UK festivals can also start nominating themselves for the 10th annual UK Festival Awards, which will be presented at London’s Roundhouse Dec. 2.