Fruszina Szep from Hungary's Sziget Festival acceps the award for Best Major Festival at the European Festival Awards Jan. 11 in The Netherlands.
The 20-year-old gathering with claims to be the oldest festival in the old Eastern Bloc beat off rivals including Denmark’s Roskilde Festival, Germany’s Hurricane and Wacken festivals and Belgium’s Tomorrowland.
“After 20 years I think we deserved this,” said Sziget’s international booker Dan Panaitescu, pointing out that over the years the event has received numerous nominations for various festival awards.
Germany and Belgium also managed to get on the score sheet.
Germany’s twinned Hurricane and Southside festivals were the artists’ favourites, while Belgium’s Rock Werchter was once again found to have had the best lineup.
Best medium-sized festival went to Poland’s Off Festival and best small festival was Germany’s Haldern Festival.
Belgium was back among the winners when Extrema Outdoor took best new festival and I Love Techno was best indoor festival.
Glastonbury Festival chief Michael Eavis was presented with the European Festivals’ lifetime achievement award, which had been announced at the end of last year.