Hugh Levinson will join us again as Coordinator for the Radio Current Affairs Jury Group

Hugh Levinson will join us again as Coordinator for the Radio Current Affairs Jury Group

'Like many working in journalism in the UK, I cannot recall a time when national opinion was so divided and so bitter. This is most obvious over Brexit but opinions seem to be hardening on a range of issues. We are pushing each other apart - or perhaps pushing ourselves apart. I am sure many colleagues from other European nations will have experienced similar phenomena. This makes the task of Radio Current Affairs ever more necessary: to tell stories in a way which will engage listeners from both sides of a debate and to enable all to appreciate just a little more of the complexity of the world around us.’

Hugh Levinson is head of the Radio Current Affairs department for the BBC, based in London and Salford. He began his career in local radio in Liverpool, spent three years at a newspaper in Tokyo before returning to the BBC, working in daily radio journalism then moving to current affairs. He fell in love with radio documentaries and have stayed in this department pretty much ever since – presenting, producing and editing long-form radio. He currently edits the Analysis series and the Reith Lectures, working with among others Stephen Hawking and Hilary Mantel. He also makes online text and video and produces some of the UK’s most popular podcasts.

PRIX EUROPA 2018 Countdown Nominations!

PRIX EUROPA 2018 Countdown Nominations! 

3, 2, 1... and the time has come: On 3 September 2018 we will publish the nominees for the PRIX EUROPA 2018 competition in Berlin & Potsdam. 591 programmes and projects were submitted to PRIX EUROPA 2018 and on Monday you will be able to see on our website which productions have been chosen to compete for one of the 13 prestigious Taurus trophies. The winners will be honoured during the Awards Ceremony in Potsdam on Friday, 19 October 2018. 

And you still have the chance to nominated somebody for this year's Best European Journalist of the Year: Proposals from all genres and formats of journalism are welcome. We are not necessarily looking for a person with continent-wide fame, but rather for a person who has gone outside her/his comfort zone and shown extraordinary creativity, courage and impact on her/his specific society or audience.

Please propose your candidates for the Best European Journalist of the Year 2018 by sending her/his professional cv, contact details and by attaching a short explanation for your proposal.
Mail to office@prixeuropa.eu
Deadline: 15 September 2018.

Erik Hogenboom will again coordinate the category TV Iris

Erik Hogenboom will again coordinate the category TV Iris

 ‘Europe is in a huge political crisis because of issues concerning immigration and diversity. The tendency everywhere is to shut down borders and to go against diversity. Extreme right wing parties are gaining strength everywhere. Nationalism and ethnocentrism are becoming stronger and stronger. It is exactly to counterbalance these forces that TV Iris was founded more than twenty years ago: to stimulate journalists and filmmakers to analyse issues around immigration and diversity in a highly professional way, to counteract stereotyping and racism and above all to show the positive sides of diversity. ’

Erik Hogenboom is editor in chief at the Diversity Department of Dutch public broadcaster NTR. He coordinates several documentary series and magazines focusing on diversity themes in the Dutch multicultural society. Since 2001 he is executive producer for the Intercultural and Diversity Group (EBU), coordinating co-productions (e.g. City Folk). 

Agnieszka Czyżewska Jacquemet will coordinate the Jury Group of the Radio Documentary category

Agnieszka Czyżewska Jacquemet will coordinate the Jury Group of the Radio Documentary category

 ‘A radio feature maker is more like a writer or a musician than a journalist. We play with words, silence, music, sound effects thereby creating a theatre of imagination to build bridges between peoples. A real story is not hidden in great global events, but in the life of a single human being. A drop reflects the ocean. ’

Agnieszka Czyżewska Jacquemet has been working at the Documentary Department of the Polish Radio Lublin for about 20 years as editor and commissioning editor. She was awarded several national and international prizes (Prix Bohemia, PRIX EUROPA Special Commendation). She was a coach at the ABA training programme and the PRIX EUROPA Master School in Vilnius.

Welcome back: Kåre Vedding Poulsen will coordinate again the Online Projects category

Welcome back: Kåre Vedding Poulsen will coordinate again the Online Projects category

 ‘Each year we see something completely new being presented in the PRIX EUROPA Online Projects Category and the borders seem boundless. It is hard for me to imagine a more inspirational place to be than in this room during three days in Berlin. You meet some the most courageous and brave people breaking new boundaries in what digital can to do public service.’

He is an Executive producer at Danish Broadcasting Corporation and has been working with cross platform/interactive projects for more than a decade. He is curator and moderator of the Nordvision Festival of Digital Narratives. He has an MA in Literature and Film, and also an Executive MBA from Copenhagen Business School. Currently studying script writing at the Southern Danish University

Hilde De Windt, Video Journalist at VRT, takes on the task to coordinate the TV Current Affairs Jury Group

Hilde De Windt, Video Journalist at VRT, takes on the task to coordinate the TV Current Affairs Jury Group

‘'To measure is to know.' This is a sort of new proverb in Dutch, a credo for facts and figures. Rightly so of course, but as an investigative current affairs journalist, one should use one’s intuition as much. Feeling the heartbeat of people and reading the sign of the times often leak to untold storie. Once you dig deeper in it, the evidence becomes apparent.’

Hilde De Windt has been a storyteller since she was a youngster. She played theatre, took Scandinavian literature & studies, made a career as a radio presenter and reporter. After 16 years of creating wonderful worlds with sound only, the photographer’s microbe won and she turned to the visual. She became a TV maker: writing and producing programme formats, making reportages. In the investigative field she worked on themes as migration, identity and health.

Robert Ketteridge, Head of Arts, Documentaries and Drama for BBC Radio & Music Production will coordinate the Digital Audio Jury Group

Robert Ketteridge, Head of Arts, Documentaries and Drama for BBC Radio & Music Production will coordinate the Digital Audio Jury Group

‘In its first two years the Digital Audio category has recognised a wide spectrum of digital work with audio at its heart, from fresh approaches to podcasting and social media campaigns to art-projects and new ways of interacting with audiences. Innovation and impact are at the heart of what the jury members will be looking for and I am looking forward to welcoming another new generation of digital audio talent to PRIX EUROPA for the third year of this award.’

I grew up in Manchester, studied English at university and joined the BBC as a trainee in local radio news. I worked for several years as a producer of arts programmes and documentaries and in 2003 became Editor of the Documentaries Unit, looking after a wide range of programmes including series with the British Museum such as A History of the World in 100 Objects and Germany: Memories of a Nation. Today my responsibilities continue to include documentaries and arts and I also help to manage the radio drama teams in London and Birmingham. 

PRIX EUROPA 2018 - Personal Registration is open!

PRIX EUROPA 2018 - Personal Registration is open!

From now on you can register as Jury Member, Participant or Reporting Press for               

PRIX EUROPA 2018!

Accreditation for the festival is free of charge.

TV Fiction Jury Coordinator Thorsten Ritsch, Commissioning Editor, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen - ZDF

TV Fiction Jury Coordinator Thorsten Ritsch, Commissioning Editor, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen - ZDF

'Everybody talks about a new golden age of fiction producing. The growing streaming and on-demand market is challenging the old players. On one hand, it can be frightening. Audiences have more possibilities to choose than ever before. On the other hand, for us as fiction producers, it brings the chance to tell stories in ways we did not dare to tell them just a few years ago.'

After studying journalism, Thorsten Ritsch realised that he prefers pure fictional storytelling over writing journalistic texts. So he got himself several almost unpaid internships on different film sets and learned about filmmaking and storytelling hands-on. Later, he worked as a junior producer for several production companies and became commissioning editor for German Television ZDF in 2006. Since then he is responsible for developing and producing TV movies and series, e.g. the PRIX EUROPA 2013 winner of Best European TV Fiction Series: ‘Generation War’.

In 2018 Thorsten Ritsch will again coordinate the TV Fiction Jury Group.

Carsten Dufner, Head of Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk - MDR KLASSIK digital will coordinate the Radio Music Jury Group

Carsten Dufner, Head of Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk - MDR KLASSIK digital will coordinate the Radio Music Jury Group

‘The Category “Radio Music” is a special one. It’s not ‘only’ about making good programmes (which is hard enough!) but about innovative approaches to presenting music in radio. Last year a broad variety of extremely interesting new productions appeared, making one of the oldest elements of radio one of the most exciting. I am very much looking forward to listening to many compelling music programmes also in 2018!’

'I have worked as a journalist, producer and music manager and am currently Head of MDR Klassik digital at Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. After studying Musicology, History of Art, Theatre, TV and Film in Cologne, I trained as a journalist at Süddeutscher Rundfunk in Stuttgart. I worked as a freelance journalist for Deutschlandfunk in Cologne from 1986 to 1990, followed by seven years of being executive producer for the Stuttgart Radio Symphony. 1997/98 I became executive producer of the multimedia activities at SDR, and then Deputy Head of the multimedia department at Südwestrundfunk in Baden-Baden. From 1999 to 2008 I was Head of Music at Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt and then became Head of Music and Production of MDR’s music ensembles. Since 2016, I am responsible for MDR Klassik (digital radio programme, streaming, web service, social media). I have also been working with the EBU for 28 years.

Soila Valkama, Producer and Director at Yle, the Finnish Broadcasting Company

Soila Valkama, Producer and Director at Yle, the Finnish Broadcasting Company

'Fiction brings things and events into close perspective, radio fiction being its most intimate form. Associative soundscapes breed images, using the listener’s own mind as the source. I strongly believe in radio fiction.
Listening to radio fiction is becoming increasingly popular.
People are so exposed to visual impulses every day, that radio fiction as a form of storytelling gives them something else, something which is more personal and accessible.
The auteurs it challenges into constantly exploring new techniques, driving them to finding ways to create even more fascinating soundscapes.'

Soila Valkama is a director, a dramaturge and an actress. She taught radio directing, acting and dramaturgy at the University of Birzeit on the West Bank in 1998 and has worked as a director, dramaturge, producer and as a programme developer with Yle, the Finnish Broadcasting Company since 1999. 

She will coordinate the Radio Fiction Jury Group.

PRIX EUROPA is looking for the best of Radio and Digital Audio – Made in Europe.

PRIX EUROPA is looking for entries, which by the quality of their content and form equally convince audiences and professionals. The programmes should bear the cultural imprint of their place of origin, yet also reach people of other cultures, thus making them suitable to be broadcast outside of the country in which they were produced.

https://www.prixeuropa.eu/regulations/

Manuel Thalmann, Head of development at young audience department of SRF / SRG SSR

Manuel Thalmann, Head of development at young audience department of SRF / SRG SSR

"I really think that there are very high levels of creativity out there at the moment. As a digital format developer, I find the times we are living in on one hand really challenging - with all the different platforms, algorithms and also all the bad content that is produced. But on the other hand, it is also incredibly fascinating and interesting to have all these different possibilities and distribution options, and to be able to try out highly innovative formats that were previously unthinkable. A crazy but still great time to work in public media!"

Manuel Thalmann began his career as a producer for a Swiss Music TV channel and has since worked for different Radio and TV-Stations all over Switzerland. For the past two years he has been in charge of the format development of the young audience department at SRF - producing and developing formats for young people in Switzerland - mainly web formats and formats for third party platforms. 

He will coordinate the Online Projects Jury Group together with Kåre Vedding Poulsen.

PRIX EUROPA is looking for online projects, which have vision, creativity and also public responsibility. Projects may include - among others - cross-platform projects, web-based productions and Apps. The entries will be judged on their ideas, the way they have been executed, their quality and their commitment to public values. The prize will be awarded to the project which best explores and uses the potential of the online media.

https://www.prixeuropa.eu/regulations/

Diversity expert Daniela Drastata will chair the TV Iris Jury Group

Diversity expert Daniela Drastata will chair the TV Iris Jury Group

The Croatian producer Daniela Drastata is joining our team this year as Coordinator of the TV Iris Jury Group. 

Daniela Drastata is a journalist and producer at HRT and currently chairlady of the Intercultural and Diversity Group of the EBU. She has been strongly involved in international documentary co-productions dealing with diversity and multicultural issues. For the second season, she works as an executive producer of the international series New Neighbours.

At HRT, Daniela works as an editor-in-chief, reporter and presenter of a weekly multicultural magazine and produces documentaries on human rights. For many years she has been running the HRT Diversity Department. She won couple of awards including one for best TV journalism in Croatia, 2017.

"My passion are documentary films on human rights... 

I know from the previous years that Iris brings together a lot of excellence and experience great film makers and great people! "

The TV Iris category invites programmes that deal explicitly with the culturally diverse character of European societies and contribute towards equality, understanding and tolerance between people of different origins, cultures and religions. TV Iris seeks to be an incentive for programme practitioners to devote their attention to the ethnic diversity aspect of European societies. Programmes can be fiction or documentaries, children or entertainment programmes, that have 'cultural diversity' as central theme.

https://www.prixeuropa.eu/regulations/

We are delighted to introduce Paul Smith to you

We are delighted to introduce Paul Smith to you

The British radio producer Paul Smith is joining our team this year as Coordinator of the Radio Documentary Jury Group. Paul studied English at Cambridge and has a Master Degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York. In 2016 Paul Smith won the PRIX EUROPA - Best European Radio Music Programme of the Year with Philip Glass: Taxi Driver, produced for BBC Radio 4 & World Service. Paul has worked as a producer at 'Just Radio' but very recently started a new job at 'Somethin’ Else', another independent production company in London.

PRIX EUROPA 2018 New Alliance Member Radio France

PRIX EUROPA 2018 New Alliance Member Radio France

We are happy to announce that another European Public Broadcaster has joined the
PRIX EUROPA 2018 Alliance:

Welcome Radio France!

«No» to «No Billag»: a vote of confidence that puts us under an obligation

Today the voters clearly rejected the «No Billag» initiative at the ballot box.

The result is especially pleasing for the SRG SSR because it was confirmed in all linguistic regions of Switzerland. In the light of the heated debate that has taken place, today marks a new beginning for the SRG, and one that comes with clear expectations: Switzerland’s public media company will have to adapt to a new financial framework and meet society’s new needs.

Read more here

Best European Radio Documentary featured on Radio Atlas

If you can’t speak German, you might be happy to hear: Christian Lerch’s winning documentary is available on Radio Atlas with English subtitles in its original form.

The Radio Documentary Jury recognised ‘‘Papa, We Are In Syria’ - Joachim Gerhard’s Search for Lost Sons and Holy Warriors’ as ‘a story of our time’.
The praise continued: ‘a thrilling 21st century tale told through a treasure trove of audio messages, this documentary takes the listener inside the nucleus of a personal family tragedy set in the defining story of our generation.’

Find more information about the winner of the Best European Radio Documentary of the Year 2017, as well as other PRIX EUROPA 2017 winning productions, here.

Radio Atlas is an English-language home for subtitled audio from around the world. It is a place to hear inventive documentaries, dramas and works of sound art that have been made in languages you don’t necessarily speak.
It has made several audio works which were nominated for or won PRIX EUROPA available to broader audiences.

Radio Atlas itself received a Special Commendation in PRIX EUROPA 2016 Digital Audio category.

Kim Wall Memorial Fund

‘We can never get Kim back, but we can see to it that her spirit and will live on, and inspire other young journalists to go out in the world and find the stories,’

said the parents of the Swedish journalist Kim Wall, nominated last year for the PRIX EUROPA Outstanding Achievement Award. ‘More than ever, we need brave female journalists who give voice to the people that normally never hit the front pages.’

The Kim Wall Memorial Fund was created by The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), in partnership with Kim’s family and friends. Through the fund they seek to help other women with Kim’s adventurous spirit chase down important and underreported stories - the kind of stories Kim loved.

The Kim Wall Memorial Fund will distribute one $5,000 grant once a year. Winners will be paired with a mentor to assist them in their reporting.
Application deadline is 2 February 2018.

For all information visit the International Women’s Media Foundation’s (IWMF) website:
http://www.iwmf.org/blog/2018/01/11/kim-wall-memorial-fund-inaugural-grant-open/

Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) under threat

Ten Directors-General of public service companies in Europe sign statement in support of Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR).

In a statement, published on 10 January 2018, Directors-General of ten of Europe’s most renowned public service broadcasters warn that proposed cuts of up to 25 percent could have significant and far-reaching consequences for DR’s ability to operate as a public service broadcaster.

In the letter the signatories also point out the important role that public service broadcasters play in a time of “increased polarisation and greater alienation between different groups in society. Against this background the importance of well-functioning, trusted public service broadcasters, side-by-side with high quality commercial media, can hardly be stated too clearly.”

It is also important to put this discussion in a broader European perspective. The signatories write: “free and independent journalism around the world is under greater pressure than it has been for a long time……increasingly authoritarian regimes in some parts of Europe have made public service broadcasters subject to comprehensive changes. For the time being two of the most troublesome cases are Hungary and Poland. It is no coincidence that both countries have plunged down the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index in recent years. ……The choice that Danish politicians must make when it comes to public service broadcasting can be seen in many other countries around Europe: Whether to cut budgets and increase the risk of political control; or to secure long-term funding and build up greater and more effective safeguards for the independence and stability of public service broadcasting. That the latter would promote democracy hardly needs to be pointed out.”

The signatories to the statement are:

Tony Hall, BBC (UK)
Thor Gjermund Eriksen, NRK (Norway)
Magnus Geir Thordarson, RUV (Iceland)
Gilles Marchand, SRG SSR (Switzerland)
Dr. Alexander Wrabetz, ORF (Austria)
Shula Rijxman, NPO (Netherlands)
Hanna Stjärne, SVT (Sweden)
Per Bergkrantz, UR (Sweden)
Cilla Benkö, SR (Sweden)
Tom Buhrow, WDR (Germany)

Source and full text of the statement: http://news.cision.com/sveriges-radio/r/danish-broadcasting-corporation-and-public-service-broadcasting-under-threat,c2428703

2017 Winners & Special Commendations

14 joyous winners were awarded a bronze Taurus Trophy at the prize giving ceremony on Friday 20 October 2017.

For those who could not be there / missed the live-stream / want to see it again, the event is available as video-on-demand on the rbb homepage.
Here you can find the list of winners and special commendations, as well as the trailers of the winning productions.
If you’re interested in the top ranking in each category, download the PRIX EUROPA 2017 Winners List from the press material.