After more than a dozen years of rewarding excellence, the esteemed Conventa Best Event Award competition has been rebranded as the Unicorn Awards to keep pace with the times. While the competition has a new name and refreshed look, its mission remains the same: scouring the industry in search of unicorns – groundbreaking events that break the mould and keep event organisers on their toes.

The new look revolves around the unicorn as the competition’s recognisable symbol. A bold, edgy new look is now featured on the website, alongside a new entry guide and a trove of past winners. Now, event agencies can also easily find the main categories and subcategories tailored to their event. The competition will reward the finest in the event business in Ljubljana between 8 and 9 September 2026.

An esteemed 26-member international jury

As in previous years, the events competing for the coveted awards will be assessed by an expert jury – a vetted group of event experts. Helming the jury this year is Jury President Ángeles Moreno Vallejo, General Manager, Spain and Portugal at Jack Morton. Comprising event professionals, international media representatives, past Grand Prix winners, and client representatives from associations and corporations, the jury ensures that all projects are evaluated against 12 rigorous criteria. What sets the Unicorn Awards apart from other industry competitions is the 80-20 voting system, modelled on the Eurovision Song Contest. That means 80% of the final score comes from the jury, while 20% comes from the audience, who vote for their favourite project after the live presentations.

unicorn_awards
Photo: Marko Delbello Ocepek

What makes a unicorn event stand out, barring the horn?

What distinguishes unicorn events from ordinary events is their trailblazing idea: they transcend the typical event framework in which people meet. Unicorn events foster new ideas, create modern “agoras”, and have the vision that can move mountains. Most importantly, they are a place where communities are born. Not every horse with a horn sticking out from its forehead can be labelled a unicorn. By the same token, not every event can be named the winner of the Unicorn Awards. What makes an event stand out is the combination of creativity, relevance, innovation, execution, event results, communication, sustainability, legacy, impact, and risk management.

Male host in a navy tuxedo on stage, holding a card, with neon unicorn outline and the text 'Juraj Holub Moderator of the night' on screen.
Photo: Marko Delbello Ocepek

Elaborating on the rebranding, Gorazd Čad, the founder of the project, commented: “The renaming into the Unicorn Awards is a logical step in our competition’s evolution. Though the competition now bears a new name, the essence remains: we wish to showcase the immense potential of the events industry, from the Baltics to the Balkans and beyond. Thanks to our esteemed expert jury, unique 80-20 voting system and transparency, we can confidently say our competition is among the leading in Europe.”

unicorn_awards
Photo: Marko Delbello Ocepek

The live pitching is scheduled for Monday, 7 September 2026. The unicorns of the European events industry will be announced on Tuesday, 8 September 2028, at an award ceremony at Ljubljana Castle.

Every year, the event attracts event managers, creative heads, marketing experts, event organisers, providers of meeting services, representatives from companies, agencies, and associations, and everyone else co-crafting the events and the advertising and marketing landscape. The competition also offers ample opportunities to hear from keynote speakers who have successfully transformed their events and are recognised as pioneers of our new reality.

Entries are now open for event agencies looking to showcase their best projects in the event competition. The early-bird fee ends on 29 May 2026. Event agencies can enter their finest events here.

The event competition is organised by Toleranca marketing and Conventa, a market-leading B2B trade show, in partnership with Ljubljana Tourism, the Slovenian Tourist Board and the Slovenian Convention Bureau. Read more here.