In the midst of these testing times, we should not forget to celebrate success when it presents itself. It is for this reason that we are very pleased to announce the 2019 IASPM Benelux/VNPF Popular Music Thesis Prize winners!
The winner of the BA Thesis Prize is:
Maartje Boekestein of the University of Groningen with a thesis titled
“Performing the Process: Exploring Metamusicality in Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here and Eminem’s The Eminem Show”
The winner of the MA Thesis Prize is:
Boris Gunst of the Erasmus University Rotterdam with a thesis titled
“The Audience as Gatekeeper: Attention for Unreleased Techno Music in Online Communities as Indicator for Post-Release Success”
Congratulations on behalf of the members of the IASPM Benelux board and our broader chapter membership as well as VNPF - the Association of Dutch pop theaters and festivals!
We plan to pay tribute to our prize winners’ achievement in an awards ceremony to be held during our biannual IASPM Benelux Conference. We originally planned to hold this conference in mid-May 2020, but the pandemic has caused us to have to postpone it to 15–17 October 2020. We realize even this may not be possible and we will keep you updated on our plans. Keep an eye on this site, our conference website, our Facebook page, and our conference Twitter account.
We hope we will be celebrating this achievement with both our prize winners in the not-too-distant future. Until then, and keep well.