Popgala NOORD

Popgala NOORD is the award show for pop culture of the Northern part of the Netherlands. Especially the three provinces Drenthe, Friesland and Groningen.

Popgala NOORD 2025

On the eve of ESNS, awards are traditionally presented in honour of the cultural sector in the Northern Netherlands during Popgala Noord on 14 January at Grand Theatre. Eight awards are presented: five audience awards and three honorary awards. The audience awards are for Artist of the Year, Talent of the Year, Stage of the Year, Large Festival of the Year (more than 10,000 visitors) and Small Festival of the Year (less than 10,000 visitors).

The winners of the audience awards are:

Small Festival of the Year: Terug naar het begin
Big Festival of the Year: Hello Festival
Stage of the Year: Simplon, Groningen
Talent of the Year: Isabèl Usher
Artist of the Year: Hannah Mae

The winners of the honorary awards for Inclusive initiative of the year, backstage business award and lifetime achievement award are determined by the professional jury:

CNTRL-Productions from Drachten receives the backstage business award, the award for a company that has made a major contribution, behind the scenes, to making the music industry possible
GigaGfestival in Pesse is awarded Inclusive Initiative of the Year, they organise an annual festival for young people with disabilities
This year's Lifetime Achievement award goes to Jan Stam for his years of dedication to pop music in Drenthe

Check out the jury report here (in Dutch)

The nominees for the audience awards were put together by a professional jury consisting of: Joey Ruchtie (ESNS and jury chairman), Andries van Wieren (3S Management), Hanneke Dijkstra (Popronde Leeuwarden, Simplon), Vanja van Guldener (FestivalDerAa), Sander Ten Bosch (Bevrijdingsfestival Drenthe), Daan Snijders (Bank Bookings) and Lynn Zwartsenburg (Noorderzon, WinterWelvaart).

Popgala NOORD is made possible by NOORD, (a partnership between ESNS, Noordstaat, Popfabryk, POPgroningen and Stichting Kunst & Cultuur with support from Fonds Podiumkunsten, We the North and the Cultuurfonds), Platform Popcultuur Fryslân, CrossWise, Province of Fryslân, Province of Drenthe, Province of Groningen and Municipality of Groningen