The Europe Jazz Network bestows 3 awards: the EJN Award for Adventurous Programming (now at the 14th edition), the EJN Award for Music & Community (now at the 7th edition) and the EJN Zenith Award for Emerging Artists, in collaboration with 12 Points Festival (now at the 4th edition). In the year 2025, the EJN Award for Adventurous Programming is bestowed to Jazzfestival Saalfelden (Austria), and the EJN Zenith Award for emerging artists to SC’ÖÖF (Switzerland). Please find below the info about the announced winners. The Music & Community award will be announced later on during the year.
Jazzfestival Saalfelden was praised by the jury for continually reinventing itself throughout its history, exploring uncharted musical territories, and harmoniously integrating its programme with the local communities and stunning natural landscapes of the Saalfelden-Leogang area. Established by EJN, this annual Award honours a European festival, club, or venue that succeeds in delivering visionary and compelling musical experiences for its audience.
The award winner was selected through a two-phase process: initially, the 200+ EJN member organisations from 36 countries nominated potential awardees, including non-members. Subsequently, a jury comprising EJN members and other music professionals convened online in March 2025 to select the winner from a shortlist of 23 nominees.
Comment from the Award Jury 2025: “The jury selected Saalfelden Jazzfestival as the winner of the 2025 EJN Award for Adventurous Programming, highlighting its exceptional artistic quality and innovative community integration. Celebrating its 45th edition this year, the festival was praised for creatively utilising diverse urban and mountain spaces and seamlessly collaborating with local businesses, enriching the cultural fabric of the entire region. Its bold, diverse, risk-taking programme and close interaction between artists, audience, and the breathtaking natural surroundings have made it influential among musicians and fellow programmers alike. Additionally, the festival’s commitment to ecological sustainability underscores its forward-thinking vision, setting a remarkable standard in Europe's creative music community.”
The jury 2025 was composed by: Tania Giannouli (artist, Greece), Ragnhild Menes (Kongsberg Jazz Festival, Norway), Pedro Costa (Clean Feed label & promoter, Portugal), Wim Wabbes (EJN honorary member, Belgium), Hernádi Zsolti (previous Award winner, Budapest Music Centre, Hungary).
Comment by Mario Steidl, Artistic Director of Jazzfestival Saalfelden: “The most beautiful thing about this award is its title – adventurous programming… Honouring curiosity, risk taking and the creation of new formats is so much nicer than getting stuck in superlatives like „biggest“, „fastest“ or „best“. It is a recognition of a mindset. And that makes me more than happy. I see this award as an encouragement to keep exploring and to stay connected – with the artists, the audience, and the issues that move us as a society…”
The winner of the 2025 Award for Adventurous Programming will be celebrated at the 45th Jazzfestival Saalfelden, from 21 to 24 August 2025, and at the 11th European Jazz Conference in Bari, Italy, from 25 to 28 September 2025, bringing together EJN members and creative music professionals from across Europe and beyond.
About Jazzfestival Saalfelden
Free space meets the unexpected
How much freedom does music need to unfold? The Saalfelden Jazz Festival has been inviting people to the breathtaking mountain region of the so-called Steinernes Meer for over 45 years, creating spaces for encounters, curiosity, creativity and exchange over four days in August.
More than 60 concerts and hikes with improvised music, spontaneous sessions in unusual places in an atmosphere of informal hospitality and lightness: these are the characteristics of this festival, which attracts musicians and visitors from the most diverse regions.
Next key dates:
- The 45th festival edition will take place from 21 - 24 August 2025;
- The full programme will be presented on 12 June 2025;
- Tickets can be ordered already now online via: https://www.jazzsaalfelden.com/en;
- In 2026, the festival will take place from 20 - 23 August.
Innovative and bold: Jazzfestival Saalfelden wins the 14th EJN Award for Adventurous Programming
Europe Jazz Network (EJN) is delighted to announce that its 2025 Award for Adventurous Programming has been awarded to Jazzfestival Saalfelden in Austria.Jazzfestival Saalfelden was praised by the jury for continually reinventing itself throughout its history, exploring uncharted musical territories, and harmoniously integrating its programme with the local communities and stunning natural landscapes of the Saalfelden-Leogang area. Established by EJN, this annual Award honours a European festival, club, or venue that succeeds in delivering visionary and compelling musical experiences for its audience.
The award winner was selected through a two-phase process: initially, the 200+ EJN member organisations from 36 countries nominated potential awardees, including non-members. Subsequently, a jury comprising EJN members and other music professionals convened online in March 2025 to select the winner from a shortlist of 23 nominees.
Comment from the Award Jury 2025: “The jury selected Saalfelden Jazzfestival as the winner of the 2025 EJN Award for Adventurous Programming, highlighting its exceptional artistic quality and innovative community integration. Celebrating its 45th edition this year, the festival was praised for creatively utilising diverse urban and mountain spaces and seamlessly collaborating with local businesses, enriching the cultural fabric of the entire region. Its bold, diverse, risk-taking programme and close interaction between artists, audience, and the breathtaking natural surroundings have made it influential among musicians and fellow programmers alike. Additionally, the festival’s commitment to ecological sustainability underscores its forward-thinking vision, setting a remarkable standard in Europe's creative music community.”
The jury 2025 was composed by: Tania Giannouli (artist, Greece), Ragnhild Menes (Kongsberg Jazz Festival, Norway), Pedro Costa (Clean Feed label & promoter, Portugal), Wim Wabbes (EJN honorary member, Belgium), Hernádi Zsolti (previous Award winner, Budapest Music Centre, Hungary).
Comment by Mario Steidl, Artistic Director of Jazzfestival Saalfelden: “The most beautiful thing about this award is its title – adventurous programming… Honouring curiosity, risk taking and the creation of new formats is so much nicer than getting stuck in superlatives like „biggest“, „fastest“ or „best“. It is a recognition of a mindset. And that makes me more than happy. I see this award as an encouragement to keep exploring and to stay connected – with the artists, the audience, and the issues that move us as a society…”
The winner of the 2025 Award for Adventurous Programming will be celebrated at the 45th Jazzfestival Saalfelden, from 21 to 24 August 2025, and at the 11th European Jazz Conference in Bari, Italy, from 25 to 28 September 2025, bringing together EJN members and creative music professionals from across Europe and beyond.
About Jazzfestival Saalfelden
Free space meets the unexpected
How much freedom does music need to unfold? The Saalfelden Jazz Festival has been inviting people to the breathtaking mountain region of the so-called Steinernes Meer for over 45 years, creating spaces for encounters, curiosity, creativity and exchange over four days in August.
More than 60 concerts and hikes with improvised music, spontaneous sessions in unusual places in an atmosphere of informal hospitality and lightness: these are the characteristics of this festival, which attracts musicians and visitors from the most diverse regions.
Next key dates:
- The 45th festival edition will take place from 21 - 24 August 2025;
- The full programme will be presented on 12 June 2025;
- Tickets can be ordered already now online via: https://www.jazzsaalfelden.com/en;
- In 2026, the festival will take place from 20 - 23 August.
SC’ÖÖF from Switzerland are the recipients of the 4th EJN Zenith Award for emerging artists
We are very happy to announce SC’ÖÖF from Switzerland as the winner of the 4th Zenith Award for emerging artists - an initiative launched by the Europe Jazz Network (EJN) in collaboration with Irish organisation IMC’s 12 Points Festival, and supported by Creative Europe.
With two horns, drums, electronics and guitar, SC’ÖÖF bring traditional jazz instruments into an avant-garde soundscape. Their music is fuelled both by their passion for odd grooves and a consciousness of social responsibility in their creative practice. The band is composed of Noah Arnold (Saxophone), Elio Amberg (Saxophone), Christian Zemp (Guitar) and Vincent Glanzmann (Drum Kit & Electronics), and so far published 3 albums: CDR003SA (2022), Weaving Elephants (2020) and Kreidenfels (2017). The quartet was supported by Pro-Helvetia as part of their high priority support scheme 2022-2024 and was selected to perform as part of the official jazzahead! showcase programme in 2023.
The EJN Zenith Award was created in 2019 to shine a spotlight on a remarkable European ensemble or solo project working in creative jazz and improvised music. The winner is selected from the carefully curated 12 acts performing at the 12 Points festival, all coming from different European countries. The Award celebrates the ensemble’s ability to break musical boundaries while demonstrating an original approach to performance and a potential for a strong, ongoing international career. The name “Zenith Award” was adopted to reflect the level of excellence in the winning act, and its capacity to show a way forward for the future of creative music in Europe. Previous recipients of the Zenith Award were Trio Heinz Herbert from Switzerland in 2019, Nout from France in 2023, and Liv Andrea Hauge trio from Norway in 2024.
For each award edition, the Europe Jazz Network nominates an international jury of artistic directors, all EJN members, to choose the winner out of the 12 bands performing at the 12 Points festival. This year, 12 Points festival took place in presence, after a few years of pause, between 24-27 September 2024 at G Livelab in Tampere, Finland. Please see below the full list of the 12 bands that performed at the festival, coming from Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland.
Comment from the award jury: “SC’ÖÖF creates imaginative soundscapes with a conglomerate of sounds traversing between computer generated pulses and acoustic bursts of expression, all meticulously orchestrated into an original sound. Their musical stories are rooted in the industrial realm, but yet the group produce an overall organic, human-like fluent feel. The outcome is a percussive, rhythmically unpredictable, melodically compelling experimental jazz-dub-d’n’b-breakbeat-hiphop-noise set that exudes great musicianship, boldly taking on the freedom of expression.
With their fresh, eclectic and captivating approach SC’ÖÖF can build bridges between jazz fans and audiences of different genres and has a potential to bring the needed generational refreshment of jazz festivals. Thus, the jury believes the band’s future on Europe’s festival and club stages is bright and it is proud to present the Zenith Award to SC’ÖÖF.”
The Zenith Award jury for this year was composed by: Christoph Huber (Porgy & Bess, Austria), Martyna van Nieuwland (Music Meeting, the Netherlands), Ragnhild Menes (Kongsberg jazzfestival, Norway), Tina Lešničar (Ljubljana Jazz festival/Cankarjev dom, Slovenia), Max von Pretz (Südtirol Jazzfestival Alto Adige, Italy), Kenneth Killeen (12 Points/Improvised Music Company, Ireland).
On being named the winners of the Zenith Award 2024, SC’ÖÖF commented "We’re extremely jazzed to win the Zenith Award! It’s even better than finding the last piece of pizza at a party- pure joy! The whole 12 Points festival was a fantastic whirlwind of creativity, where we laughed, and soaked in inspiration! Thank you for this honour- we can’t wait to keep creating music that makes you move and maybe even question your life choices!"
SC’ÖÖF will now receive an outstanding prize of performances and promotional opportunities from among the EJN membership, including a prestigious showcase at the European Jazz Conference 2025 in front of over 400 music professionals from all over Europe and beyond in Bari, Italy (25-28 September 2025) as part of the showcase programme of the Conference.
EJN will also support additional international tours and concerts inside the EJN membership, setting up a communication and professional development strategy to promote the Zenith Award winners through its members and contacts and assisting in developing the winning act’s visibility and viability in the international arena.
About SC’ÖÖF
SC’ÖÖF is an experimental band that has formed its own radical sonic language, which is at once refreshingly adventurous and in-your-face. A strong affection for captivatingly odd grooves and an excessive live energy makes Sc’ööf an exciting bag of surprises.
Their contemplative attitude and their joy for fundamental research is strongly audible in their music and their creative process. Extending this attitude to the questions of social resonance and cultural relevance, the members of Sc’ööf have acted as a driving force to form «Club Dänemark» which acts at once as a collective think tank, transdisciplinary event organizer and record label
