The organisers of the inaugural European Festival Awards have announced shortlists for the best European festivals, giving a chance to festival-goers to pick their favourites. Over 30,000 votes have already been cast in the Best Major, Best Medium, Best Small and Best New Festival longlists, which have now been reduced to ten festivals per category and five in Best New Festival.
Two festivals from Croatia have been shortlisted in two categories. T-Mobile INmusic Festival, held annually in Zagreb, has been shortlisted in the ‘Best medium sized festival’ category. This year’s fourth edition of the festival featured a strong line-up of more than 40 foreign and home acts including Kraftwerk, Moby, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Lily Allen, Franz Ferdinand , N*E*R*D, Anthrax and Editors.
Hartera Festival, which takes place in Rijeka, has been shortlisted in the ‘Best small sized festival’ category. The festival, also in its fourth year, featured a line up made of both electronic music stars such as Josh Wink, James Zabiela, Mr. C, Rex the Dog, SeabastiAn and pop/rock superstars like Roisyn Murphy and Turbonegro.
Organisers have also unveiled four new artist-related categories including Best Line-Up, Best Newcomer, Best Headline Artist and Anthem Of The Summer.
Festival-fans now have two weeks to decide their favourite festivals, bands and songs before voting closes on Wednesday 30 December. All voters are entered into competition to win two tickets to every award winning festival.
The European Festival Awards winners will be revealed at the gala ceremony, which takes place on Wednesday 13 January at The Grand Theatre in Groningen, Netherlands.
The awards were created by the Yourope, the European Festival Association and festivals portal Virtual Festivals Europe to celebrate the ever-growing strength and diversity of the pan-European music festival marketplace and recognize those individuals and organizations responsible for brightening up the lives of millions each summer.
To vote for your favourite festivals and acts click here
Photo: Editors at T-Mobile INMusic Festival Croatia 2009