World champions, growth companies and Christmas travel

The Helsinki Biennial pavilion has received the Architecture Masterprize 2022 (AMP) award. The wooden pavilion, designed by Verstas Architects as an entry point to the art event, won in the Architectural Design – Cultural Architecture category. Read more on Verstas Architects’ website.

Kasvu Open has named EVA Global and CardioSignal by Precordior the growth companies of the year. The electric mobility company won in the medium-sized companies category and the cardio health specialist in the small business category. Kasvu Open is one of Finland’s biggest startup sparring and acceleration programmes. 

Journalist Conor Pope took his family for a two-night trip to Lapland and experienced a bit of Christmas magic in the Arctic circle. Read the good (and the bad) of his holiday in the Irish Times. 

“Time travel’s a bitch in this melancholic Finnish production,” writes Cineuropa. The film in question is Timeman, the latest feature from director Samppa Batal and producer Tuomas Kohtamäki. The duo talked with Cineurope about the awkward humour and creative process behind the film, which was just named the best film in the Warsaw Film Festival’s Free Spirit Competition. 

Congratulations to Finland’s national ringette team! The team beat Canada 13-3 in the world championship finals and took home their eighth consecutive gold. World Ringette Championships has the news. 

Looking for a family-friendly holiday destination? Add Moominworld to your list. National Geographic picked the theme park, located on a small charming island in Naantali, among its seven best theme parks in Europe. 

The premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s latest concerto by pianist Yuja Wang, the San Francisco Symphony and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen got a glowing review in Finnish Music Quarterly. The Finnish composer’s Piano Concerto No. 3 “fuses together the composer’s virtuosic grasp of the musical form, exuberantly pianistic writing and riveting orchestral mastery,” the magazine writes. 

More winning companies. Helsinki-based startup Annie Advisor has won its first pitching competition at EDUtech Europe. The company is working on an intelligent chatbot that helps to find students at risk of dropping out. Annie published the news on LinkedIn. 

It’s November, which means we are approaching the Christmas market season. Condé Nast Traveller has picked its favourites in Europe, and among them is the Helsinki Christmas Market. The magazine recommends it in particular for those looking for cool design products.

Melodic metal band Admire The Grim have released the first single, Rogue Five, from their upcoming debut album. “This is definitely a song for guitar maniacs,” guitarist Jani Loikkanen told BraveWords.