During Popgala Noord 2024, seven awards were presented in honour of Northern pop culture; four audience awards and three honorary awards. The nominees for, and the winners of the audience awards Artist of the Year, Talent of the Year, Stage of the Year and Festival of the Year are listed below. The winners of the honorary awards for best inclusive initiative, backstage business award and the lifetime achievement award were determined by the professional jury and announced at the ceremony on Tuesday night 16 January during the Popgala Noord in Grand Theatre.
The nominees and winners for the audience awards are:
Artist of the Year
- Michelle Samba
- Posij
- Zoë Tauran (winner)
Talent of the Year
- Velocity Made Good
- Benwal (winner)
- Marit Nygård
Stage of the Year
- Neushoorn, Leeuwarden
- SPOT, Groningen (winner)
- Het Podium, Hoogeveen
Festival of the Year
- Into The Grave, Leeuwarden
- Paradigm Festival, Groningen (winner)
- Holland International Blues Festival, Grolloo
Honorary Awards
Robb Kauffman has been awarded a Lifetime achievement award, the jury chose GLITCH from Leeuwarden as Best inclusive initiative and Groningen-based booking agency Muzink walks off with the Backstage Business award.
Robb Kauffman - Lifetime Achievement award
The professional jury on Robb Kauffman: From the late sixties, the native of Groningen has dedicated himself in many ways to pop music in his city. Without Kauffman's inspiration, the Groningen pop scene would definitely have looked different. As an early twenty-something, he organised the city's first pop festival, Grazige Weiden, in 1970, and was the driving force behind the legendary festivals Sterren in het Bos and Sterren in het Park for decades. The impressive list of artists he brought to the North at the right time includes names like Fleetwood Mac (Korenbeurs), Pink Floyd (Concertzaal Apollo), Captain Beefheart (Stadsschouwburg), The Cure (Sterrebos), The Police, Ramones, Talking Heads and Sex Pistols (all Huize Maas). As a board member of the Pop for Groningen Foundation, he was also behind Noorderslag in 1986. Still going strong, in his seventies he is currently involved in Der Aa-Theater. And, of course, we are also eternally grateful to him for his contribution to the punk song of Groningen soil: Jesus Love Me (But I Don't Care) by Subway.
GLITCH - Best inclusive initiative
The jury named GLITCH as Best inclusive initiative: GLITCH is a collective with diy mentality that organises, among other things, club nights for Friesland's queer community. Initiators Annemarie Venema and Hanna van Koldam create conceptual and interdisciplinary club nights with an activist tone at unique locations. GLITCH aims to inspire, excite and celebrate queer joy. After only four editions, GLITCH has already become an integral part of Leeuwarden. The jury recognises GLITCH's value and position for the Frisian queer scene with this award.
Muzink - Backstage Business award
The Backstage Business award is new this year, for a company that has made a major contribution, behind the scenes, to making the music industry possible. A section from the jury report: Booking agency Muzink has developed into a fixture on the Dutch pop circuit in recent years, with big names like Blanks, Meau and Fresku on their roster. Their eye for talent is outstanding, acts like Meau and Blanks, but also Babs, The Cool Quest, Fay, Katie Koss and Yaro Milo were picked up early in their careers and guided to the stars they are now, or will become. Muzink also has an eye for talent at the back end, the office has grown considerably in recent years by attracting all kinds of young people who do not yet have much experience as bookers or producers, but have a lot of passion and potential.
The nominees for the audience awards and the winners of the honorary awards have been put together by a professional jury consisting of: Joey Ruchtie (programmer ESNS and jury chairman), Cor Giesing (teacher Academy of Pop Culture), Hanneke Dijkstra (programmer Neushoorn), Lisan van der Deijl (production The Bake Shop), Chris Moorman (marketing Popronde), Inge van Calkar (artist) and Peter van der Heide (journalist).
