Applause Award

The Applause Award is an international award given out by Liseberg, a theme park in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is given out every two years to the amusement park whose "management, operations and creative accomplishments have inspired the industry with their foresight, originality and sound business development."^[1] The award is a bronze statue of two clapping hands. It was designed by Astri Taube, a Swedish sculptor.^[2] The winner is chosen by a board of governors with Liseberg's CEO, Andreas Andersen, being the chairman.^[3]

Applause Award
Awarded for	The finest in amusement parks
Country	Worldwide
Presented by	Liseberg
First award	1980
Website	Official website

It is considered by many to be the Academy Award of the amusement park industry.^[4] In summer of 2020, it was announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the upcoming award ceremony would be postponed until 2021. However, a year later it was again announced that the award had been postponed again, and would resume normally in 2022.

The Applause Award Board of Governors 2018
Chairman
Andreas Andersen	Liseberg
Members
Chris Herschend	Herschend Family Entertainment
Sascha N. Czibulka	Intamin
Tim O´Brien	Author & Journalist
Jim Pattison Jr	Ripley Entertainment
Amanda Thompson O.B.E.	Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Steven C Rhys	FORREC Ltd.
John Wood	Sally Corp.
Michael Mack	Europa Park
Tina Resch	Liseberg

Recipients

Entertainer and entrepreneur Dolly Parton accepting the Applause Award that she won for Dollywood in 2010.

Year	Park	Award Finalists	Ref(s)
1980	Magic Kingdom		[4]
1982	Opryland USA
1986	Epcot		[4]
1988	Knott's Berry Farm
1990	Europa Park	• Busch Gardens Williamsburg  • De Efteling  • Opryland USA  • SeaWorld San Diego  • Universal Studios Hollywood	[5]
1992	Efteling	• Universal Studios Florida	[6]
1994	Universal Studios Florida		[4]
1996	Cedar Point	• Busch Gardens Williamsburg  • Six Flags Magic Mountain  • Universal Studios Hollywood	[7]
1998	Silver Dollar City	• Kennywood  • Parc Astérix	[8]
2000	Hersheypark	• Pleasure Beach Blackpool  • Parc Astérix	[9]
2002	Busch Gardens Williamsburg	• Gardaland  • Pleasure Beach Blackpool
2004	Holiday World & Splashin' Safari	• Gardaland  • Tivoli
2006	Islands of Adventure	• Dollywood  • Legoland Billund	[4]
2008	Xetutul Theme Park	• SeaWorld San Diego
2010	Dollywood	• Alton Towers  • Phantasialand	[3]
2012	Ocean Park Hong Kong	• Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk  • Puy du Fou	[10]
2014	Puy du Fou	• Chimelong Paradise  • PortAventura Park	[11]
2016	Busch Gardens Tampa	• Legoland Billund  • Siam Park	[12][13]
2018	Xcaret Park	• PortAventura Park  • Universal Studios Japan	[14][15]
2022	Tokyo DisneySea		[16]
2025	Universal Studios Japan		[17]