There were cheers, there was applause, and there were smiles — a lot of smiles — as the Ibyen Prize 2026 was awarded Wednesday night at Byhaven in Copenhagen.
In recent weeks, Ibyen has asked who deserves recognition for doing something special for the capital. And now you’ve had your say.
Til tonerne af Katinka, Søn, Carlina de Place og dj Phi Phi Dream Island blev der uddelt priser til seks vindere – årets restaurant, årets café, årets bar, årets fest og hovedprisen, årets københavner.
With music from Katinka, Søn, Carlina de Place and DJ Phi Phi Dream Island, awards were handed out to six winners — bar of the year, café of the year, restaurant of the year, party of the year and the top prize, Copenhagener of the year.
In addition, in collaboration with the Bevica Foundation, we presented the award Hugger of the year.
The nominees were selected by Ibyen’s editors and the newspaper’s critics. After that, all readers were able to vote for their favorites.
Here are the six who took home this year’s statuettes:
Bar of the year
Is it a neighborhood pub or a community hall? Bar of the year 2026 is a bit of both, because at Dagmars Bodega, community is what comes first.
With book clubs, debates, quiz nights, flea markets and cheap bottled beer, the three young women behind Dagmars have created a gathering place on an otherwise half-dead stretch of Gormsgade.
Other nominees: Dave’s (Nordvest), Lille Musling (Nørrebro), Bird (Indre By) and Bar Solis (Vesterbro).
Café of the year
Ibyen’s readers loooove sandwiches — at least when they come from the sandwich shop Hero Deli.
From the sidewalk on Nørrebrogade, the place doesn’t look like much, but behind the counter in the tiny space, they make what may be the city’s best hoagies. Wildly messy, wildly wonderful. And now with the title Café of the year.
Other nominees: Goose Deli (Nordvest), Esso (Valby), Kani (Frederiksberg) and Amator (Østerbro).
Restaurant of the year
It probably won’t get any easier to snag a seat at the already popular Kukai Ramen, now that it has won Restaurant of the year.
Behind the fogged-up window on Amagerbrogade, they serve Japanese food that goes straight to the pleasure center — and while others reinterpret and reinvent, Kukai serves simple, traditional ramen with no new tricks, just 100 percent delicious.
Other nominees: Lille Mølle (Christianshavn), Solène (Østerbro), Next Door (Vesterbro) and Grim (Østerbro).
Party of the year
It draws long lines when the family-run party concept Bar’ Funk takes over venues like Vega and Rust, with dancing under the disco ball.
A party without girls’ tables, memberships and big bottles. A party where you can just dance, surrounded by funk and soul, with James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Prince on vinyl. A party that can now keep dancing with an Ibyen statuette in its arms.
Other nominees: Club Live, Bodega Danza, Karrusel and Essence.
Hugger of the year
»Why the hell do people with disabilities take up so little space in the election campaign?«
He asked an extremely relevant question on national TV, but was laughed at on a Radio IIII program we can’t even be bothered to name.
Hugger of the year goes to disability activist Rasmus Lund-Sørensen, who unwillingly became the epicenter of a media storm over how we talk about people with disabilities.
We want to amplify what was actually Rasmus’s message before everything was drowned out by noise: the desire to break the taboo and put to rest prejudices and ignorance about people with disabilities, to spotlight the lack of accessibility and the difficult living conditions facing people with disabilities in Denmark. Rasmus, we hear you!
Hugger of the year is presented in collaboration between Politiken and the Bevica Foundation, which works to improve living conditions for people with mobility disabilities.
Copenhagener of the year
Copenhagener of the year isn’t one person, but an entire crew. And what a crew! Sometimes it’s sleeping bags, pizzas or warm winter jackets they hand out for free. Other times, they collect furniture and set up an entire home for people who often come from life on the street.
Since 2021, the NGO Hjælp Din Næste has made an enormous difference for homeless people and others in vulnerable situations in Copenhagen, and by reaching out to all of us on social media — and collecting and distributing donations from cargo bikes in all kinds of weather — they are making Copenhagen a more caring and inclusive city.
Readers have spoken: the NGO Hjælp Din Næste is Copenhagener of the year 2026.
Other nominees: Hus Forbi, Crip-kampen, Antidote and Klimabevægelsen.
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