The best events in Europe selected to compete for the unicorn awards

55 finalists of the CBEA competition will compete at Ljubljana Castle on 8 September 2025

Between 8 and 9 September 2025, Ljubljana will host the tenth anniversary of Conventa Crossover, the first and only regional competition of professional event organisers and experts in live and experience marketing. The festival will culminate in the grand finale of the Conventa Best Event Award competition, which has been taking place since 2012. Since the first edition, the competition has gained acclaim as one of the oldest and most prestigious European competitions in event organising. An international 24-member expert jury selected the finalists of the competition. The mission of the competition is to promote and highlight excellence, creativity and efficiency in event organising in Europe.

On Monday, 8 September 2025, Conventa Crossover will be the stage for live pitching of the CBEA finalists. The jury will evaluate the best events in person at the Palatium Hall at Ljubljana Castle. A record-breaking 55 events from 16 countries will compete at the competition in the hope of winning the coveted unicorn award. The projects are divided into four main categories: B2B, B2C, B2E and Crossover categories. The competition will also name the best Slovenian event alongside a special jury award.

A record-breaking 55 events from 16 countries will compete at the competition in the hope of winning the coveted unicorn award.

An expert jury selects the finalists and winners based on nine criteria segments. The voting follows a three-stage system according to a unique 80:20 model (the expert jury contributes 80% of the final score while the audience at Conventa Crossover contributes 20% of the score). The organisers outline that the CBEA competition is the only competition of its kind to use such an evaluation system. A decade ago, the one-off model, which combines scores from the jury and the audience, was revealed at the advent of Conventa Crossover. Since then, the model has become a highly effective evaluation method as it raises the transparency and impartiality.

The jury is univocal in praising the quality of projects this year. Record-breaking scores for the projects attest to the calibre of projects (the average mark of projects is 7.14). Each project is evaluated by at least 10 jury members, making the final score credible and internationally comparable.

“We are glad that our vision is becoming a reality: we want to become an esteemed European competition for leading events and experience marketing.”

One of the novelties this year is the corporate jury, comprised of client representatives. The competition will also award 10 special unicorn prizes, including the Rising Star Award for the most promising young event agency and the Best Strategic Communication Event Award.

Gorazd Čad, the founder of the project, said: “We are glad that our vision is becoming a reality: we want to become an esteemed European competition for leading events and experience marketing. We are further impressed by the quality of projects this year. We are eager to meet the best event organisers this year, gain new knowledge and inspiration for our future projects. The presentation of finalists on 8 September 2025 is a trove of knowledge that cannot be found anywhere else.”

Finalists of 2025

Here are the finalists of the Conventa Best Event Award 2025, listed alphabetically according to projects and time slots:

B2B category

09:00 – 09:56 Jury Panel 1
09:00 B2B: Atea Community 2024, Just Cruzin Production AS
09:07 B2B: CHARGED TO LEAD, Desafio Global
09:14 B2B: Croatia Airlines, Croatia Airlines
09:21 B2B: Deloitte IRGA Awards, Desafio Global
09:28 B2B: Derigo Sunday Event and Gala Dinner, AIM Group International
09:35 B2B: Future Unfold, Magna Events
09:42 B2B: ICCA Mediterranean Chapter Meeting 2025, MIROSS BTA/PCO/DMC/VEO
09:49 B2B: International Astronautical Congress IAC 2024, AIM Group International
09:56 Change of jury

10:00 – 11:03 Jury Panel 2
10:00 B2B: Ljubljana Food Crawl Virtuoso 2024, Ljubljana Tourism
10:07 B2B: MBF 2024, Alert agency
10:14 B2B: McDonald’s Poland Operational Convention 2025, PLEJ
10:21 B2B: New Trends in Tourism, Gdansk Tourism Organisation
10:28 B2B: Official BYD launch on the Czech market, Creative Pro (CZ), s.r.o.
10:35 B2B: Orange Business Conference 2025, Creative Pro, a.s.
10:42 B2B: Tauron Nowa Energia by BLUEXPERIENCE, BLUEXPERIENCE
10:49 B2B: The Next Horizon: Jezeršek Catering Marks Its Expansion with a Spectacular Evening at Taggenbrunn Castle, Jezeršek gostinstvo
10:56 B2B: United Illusions Virtual Production Studio – the grand opening, Visual Europe Group

B2C category

11:15 – 12:11 Jury Panel 3
11:15 B2C: 1st FIRA GALA for Scientific Research in Rheumatology, AIM Group International
11:22 B2C: 2024 Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships Budapest, Lounge Group – Visual Europe Group
11:29 B2C: 45th FIDE Chess Olympiad, Lounge Group – Visual Europe Group
11:36 B2C: ATM Job in Tour, AIM Group International
11:43 B2C: Baking with Akis – 24Kitchen (The Walt Disney Company CEE), Komunikacijski laboratorij
11:50 B2C: Ballet Under the Stars, Slovene National Theatre Maribor
11:57 B2C: Bécation by BÉBÉ, Alert agency
12:04 B2C: Bratislava Coronation Days 2024, Bratislava Tourist Board
12:11 B2C: Garnier Green On, Creative Pro (PL)
12:18 Change of jury

12:22 – 13:18 Jury Panel 4
12:22 B2C: Iniciativa Educação – Ser PRO, Imotion Events
12:29 B2C: Launch of the all-electric Macan, Paideia Events
12:36 B2C: Maribor City Day 2024, Municipality of Maribor
12:43 B2C: OQS – Olympic Qualifier Series Budapest 2024, Lounge Group – Visual Europe Group
12:50 B2C: Pepito Day, Oltre Consulting – AIM Group International
12:57 B2C: Slovenska Sporitelna Bank Zone at Pohoda 2025, Creative Pro, a.s.
13:04 B2C: The Grand Opening of the Czech Youth Olympic Games, Art4promotion
13:11 B2C: The II Festival of Polish Food #BuyConsciously, El Padre
13:18 B2C: World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25 m) 2024, Lounge Group – Visual Europe Group

B2E category

14:30 – 15:47 Jury Panel 5
14:30 B2E: Castrol – Distributor Conference 2024, Imotion Events
14:37 B2E: Conversations Under the Sign of the Centaur, El Padre
14:44 B2E: DNB Eiendom: Top One Academy, JCP Event
14:51 B2E: Gold Rush – Teambuilding Event for AtkinsRéalis by Universum Events, Universum Events
14:58 B2E: Growing the Future Together, MEDUZA EVENTS
15:05 B2E: Healthy&Happy, Komunikacijski laboratorij
15:12 B2E: NLB Group Sports Games: New Horizons. Same Passion. One Team., NLB d.d.
15:19 B2E: Party Like Norwegian, JCP Event
15:26 B2E: SEB Award ceremony 2024, MEDUZA EVENTS
15:33 B2E: Siemens – Recognise 2024, Imotion Events
15:40 B2E: Sonae – Annual Meeting 2024, Imotion Events
15:47 B2E: University of Slovak Power Plants (SE) III, Creative Pro, a.s.

CROSSOVER category

16:10 – 16:59 Jury Panel 6
16:10 CROSSOVER: 6th Alpen Adria Dementia Congress, Alert agency
16:17 CROSSOVER: Deep Tech Atelier, Ideju Instituts
16:24 CROSSOVER: Journal 10 – Anniversary, Alert agency
16:31 CROSSOVER: McDonald’s Poland Christmas Party, El Padre Sp. z.o.o.
16:38 CROSSOVER: O Noapte în Africa – End of Year Party by Universum Events for Romcim, a CRH Company, Universum Events
16:45 CROSSOVER: Orlen 2035 Strategy, PLEJ
16:52 CROSSOVER: Syoss relaunch event, Alert agency
16:59 CROSSOVER: WAS#20 Bali – Universum Events for Vox Solutions, Universum Events

Check out the Conventa Crossover programme here: Best-Event-Award-Finalists-2025

The festival of events is organised by Toleranca marketing, an event and consultancy agency and Conventa, a market-leading B2B trade show, in partnership with Ljubljana Tourism, the Slovenian Tourist Board and the Slovenian Convention Bureau.

Learn more about the event here.