GOTHENBURG (UPDATED) - This year's "Lisebergsapplåden" [Liseberg's Applause] award will go to Per Gessle "because he has made Sweden a happier place in the past 25 years with his sparkling pop-pearls" says Liseberg's marketing manager Pelle Johannisson in a note published on the amusement park's website today.


  Per is expected to receive his award in person – a bronze sculpture of two clapping hands first created by Astri Bergman Taube in 1978 – at the Stora Scenen on April 23, the day Liseberg opens its doors for this year's season.

  "I'll probably show up a few days early," says Per to GT, "as my big idol Nick Lowe performs in Gothenburg and I want to see that". Per also confirms that he's working on new material. "I've been goofing around in the studio with Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist. Slowly but surely we're putting new material together," Per says without giving any more details.

  Other winners of this award include Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, Astrid Lindgren and Povel Ramel to name but a few.

• Liseberg Press release
• GT (In Swedish)