Oya Festival tops the green list at the European Festivals Awards

The  Öya Festival in Norway has won the prestigious overall Green n Clean Award at the European Festival Awards which took place last night (January 13th) at Eurosonic Noorderslag convention in Gronigen in the Netherlands. The Award is one of a handful awarded by an expert judging panel, with most other awards up for audience members to vote for. The Awards were organised by our friends at www.virtualfestivals.com and the European festival organisers association, Yourope, along with Eurosonic Noorderslag.Öya Festivalen, which also won a Greener Festival Award in 2009,  is built on high sustainability principles that seem to infiltrate right through the event. On it's websites green pages, it describes its aims to be one of the most environmentally sound festivals in Norway and to give our visitors an opportunity to act in an environmentally conscious way as well. Our own environmental auditor reported that at the event give the audience an opportunity to act responsibly with regards to the environment, as well as being encouraged to think about the issues. The festival uses renewable electricity from the national grid across most parts of the site. Being close to the centre of Oslo, the audience were encouraged to walk or use the good public transport system, including subsidised fares (by Oyacard) for festival ticket holders.Other winners on the night included:Best Major Festival: Heineken Open'er Festival (Poland)Best Medium-Sized Festival: Dour Festival (Belgium)Best Small Festival: Cactusfestival (Belgium)Best New European Festival: Openfields Festival (Belgium)Best Line-Up: Rock Werchter (Belgium)Festival Anthem Of The Year: Coldplay - Viva la VidaBest Artist Newcomer White LiesBest Headline Artist: The ProdigyArtists' Favourite Festival: Rock Werchter (Belgium)Promoter Of The Year: Herman Schueremans (Live Nation, Belgium)Lifetime Achievement Award: Jan Smeets (Pinkpop, The Netherlands).