- Record five successes for life-saving Norwegian entry including ESA Sponsorship of the Year
- Ireland retains ESA Best of Europe Gold thanks to An Post Irish Book Awards
- WeAreFearless recaptures Agency of the Year title
Norwegian insurance company Gjensidige enjoyed a record-breaking success at the 2025 ESA Awards ceremony in partnership with Pearlfinders, scooping an unprecedented five titles including ESA Sponsorship of the Year.
The company’s support of the Palmesus beach festival with an activation entitled ‘The Breathing Space’ may have been low budget compared with many of the partnerships that earned recognition in front of 580 sponsorship professionals in London, but it could hardly have been higher on impact.
A judging panel famed for its rigour and adherence to strict marking criteria was profoundly impressed by The Breathing Space partnership, which not only ticked the boxes for sponsorship excellence but claimed to have saved at least one life, while securing almost 700 referrals for mental health support.
The judges of ESA Sponsorship of the Year (sponsored by Pearlfinders) said: “In a year of exceptional entries, one campaign stood out above all others. Innovative, impactful and flawlessly executed, it demonstrated a masterful blend of purpose, creativity and strategic insight.
“From reshaping audience engagement to driving meaningful social change, it proved that sponsorship can be both commercially powerful and profoundly human. The definition of good sponsorship.”
Gjensidige Head of Sponsorship Stian Grøstad said: “The purpose of our sponsorship of The Breathing Space is incredibly important for us, and we are very, very thankful that we have been recognised in this way.
“Through this activation we are trying to help a generation that really needs help, and we will continue to do this good work as the activation becomes a concept integrated into all of our properties. It’s our social responsibility to try to be there for them, for the next generation, and use our collective strength to lower the bar for young people addressing mental health issues.
“Sponsorship is a lot of things, but one of our greatest priorities is social responsibility. And this is an amazing example of just this, where a festival sponsorship became a project that all Gjensidige employees are proud to be a part of.”
Before enjoying its crowning glory at the end of the ceremony, The Breathing Space won four categories – Sponsorship with a Social Purpose < €250k, Best Use of Content < €500k, Music Sponsorship, and Arts & Culture Sponsorship (Small to Medium Scale).
Hosted by renowned political satirist Rory Bremner, the 17th annual ESA Awards ceremony celebrated the very best of European sponsorship. A wide range of organisations earned recognition for outstanding work across the past 12-18 months, winning trophies and commendations across 28 categories.
Ireland celebrated a second successive ESA Best of Europe Gold thanks to the ‘Centre Stage’ campaign by the An Post Irish Book Awards. Sponsored by Sponsorium, the ESA Best of Europe category also recognised the UK entry Google Pixel: Pixel FC (Silver) and Philips & PSV Eindhoven & Sanquin: Blood Relatives (Bronze) from the Netherlands.
A new category – Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in Sponsorship – proved very popular with two highly competitive shortlists reflecting the industry’s commitment to positive change. The winners of the awards, partnered by NoTurningBack2020, were Just Eat – Pride and Royal London, Lions Women’s Founding Partner.
The ceremony marked the return of WeAreFearless, a four-time previous winner regaining prominence as Agency of the Year (sponsored by Sponsorworks), while Ryder Cup Europe was named Rights Holder of the Year (sponsored by caytoo).
The Smirnoff Collective Stage won Event of the Year (sponsored by Wasserman Live), while the biggest prize in Sport Sponsorship (> €5m, sponsored by datapowa) was collected by Komatsu & Williams Racing – Creative Value Together.
It was also a triumphant night for healthcare provider Bupa, which topped two categories for Picture of Health, and telecommunications company Three, which picked up two wins for #TalkMoreThanFootball.
ESA Chair Sophie Morris presented the Toby Hester Award to the 2024 ESA Diploma Top Graduate, Harriet Lewis.
The pan-continental reach of the ESA Awards was strongly underscored by the success of entries from Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands and Norway as well as winners from Ireland and the UK.
Click here to see the full list of entries recognised in the 2025 ESA Awards.
ESA Awards Chair of Judges, Matthew Leopold, said: “We look at performance year on year and the overall judges’ scoring in the 2025 ESA Awards indicated a notable step up from previous years, with the highest-ever average score for winners. What that tells us is that the quality of the applications we are receiving is genuinely, substantially and subjectively better than it has ever been before.
“When deciding which of the winning categories should win the ultimate accolade of ESA Sponsorship of the Year, the difference in scores was so narrow tat for the first time ever, we were just able to discuss categories based on their innovation, on the impact to customers, rather than based on their scores.”
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About ESA
The European Sponsorship Association (ESA) is the essential and inclusive community for all professionals working in sponsorship. We inspire more successful sponsorships, drive confidence in decision making and grow a diverse community through world-leading education, events and resources, industry connections and recognition of excellence.
A not-for-profit membership association, ESA’s reach encompasses all types of sponsorship activity from sport, broadcast, education, charity, arts and culture to environment and the community. Its members include sponsors, rights holders, agencies and consultants, professional advisors and suppliers.
Media enquiries
Jonathan Coates | ESA Marketing, Communications and Events Manager | marketing@sponsorship.org | +44 (0) 7788 352219
