Belgian festivals win prizes at the European Festival Awards
In January 2017 two Belgian music festivals, Rock Werchter and Pukkelpop, were a big hit at the European Festival Awards gala held in the Groningen district of the Netherlands.
Rock Werchter was successful in claiming the prestigious public award for the best large music festival in 2016. This was despite some very tough competition. Rock Werchter faced other great and famous international festivals including the German Lollapalooza in Berlin, the Danish Roskilde Festival, not to mention the Belgian … Tomorrowland. Last year artists also voted Rock Werchter their favourite festival. With its Smart Energy Grid project at Baraque Futur Pukkelpop took the Brand Activation Award, an award for the most creative and most well executed sponsorship activity at a festival in 2016.
Baraque Futur is an experimental part of the festival terrain focussing entirely on sustainability and experimentation. Pukkelpop has been experimenting with alternative energy for years. It has set up a so-called Smart Energy Grid, a system that controls energy flows smart and efficiently. This basically concerns energy being diverted to the place where it is needed the most at a particular moment.
The European Festival Awards were initiated by Yourope and Eurosonic Noorderslag. Every year the best festivals are chosen in 16 different categories. Eight prizes are allocated on the basis of votes from festival-goers themselves. Meanwhile, experts determine the winners of the remaining eight categories.