And the Winners are ... PRIX EUROPA 2008

Press Release: Award Winners and Resumé

On Saturday night PRIX EUROPA 2008 reached its festive climax with the Awards Gala in the RBB Haus des Rundfunks in Berlin.

Europe's most important competition for television, radio and emerging media ended after an intense and lively festival week.
12 award winners are taking home a PRIX EUROPA Trophy and 6,000 Euros each. Over 1000 media professionals had travelled to Berlin to select the best productions of the year 2008.

Derek Mooney television and radio personality from Ireland and himself once winner of PRIX EUROPA hosted the awards ceremony. Notable personalities from all over Europe announced and congratulated the winners. The Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder came from Norway to hand over the SPECIAL PRIX EUROPA for the best episode of a radio series in the category radio fiction to Mariannick Bellott from France for the  production "The Fish Tank" . This new award was donated by the Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
The actress Kati Outinen, the star from all Aki Kaurismäki films,  handed over the  SPECIAL PRIX EUROPA  for the best episode of a series or mini-series in TV Fiction to Auli Mantila, the director of the Finnish production "Silver Stars".
The winner of the award for the best television fiction script of a newcomer, Alix Delaporte from France received her award from the well-known German film director Andreas Dresen. He himself won a PRIX EUROPA in 1992.
ARTE President Gottfried Langenstein, David Kessler from the Direction Générale at Radio France, the General Manager of Nederlandse Programma Stichting, Joop Daalmeijer, Director of Communication at the Council of Europe, Seda Pumpyanskaya, the Director of Radio at the European Broadcasting Union, Raina Konstantinova, the President of the Chamber of Regions of the Congress Ludmila Sfirloaga and Helga Trüpel, Member of the European Parliament, were also among the prize-givers.   
Claudia Nothelle, Director of Television at Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg RBB, officially opened the Awards Gala.

213 productions from 31 countries had been nominated for the festival and presented in eight juries during the festival week.
Now the votes have been cast and the winners selected. There were several Award winners from France (4 awards), Poland (2 awards) and the United Kingdom (2 awards). One Production from Finland (1), Germany (1), Netherlands (1) and Romania (1) also won an award.
Special Commendations were received by productions from Austria (1), Bulgaria (1), Estonia (1), Ireland (1), the Netherlands (1), Norway (2), Spain (1), Sweden (1), Switzerland (1), Turkey (1), United Kingdom (2).


The Award Winners 2008

Television
TV Fiction: PRIX EUROPA –
Best Television Fiction Programme of the Year 2008
Let's go to the Movies Tomorrow (Jutro idziemy do kina) - Poland - entered by TVP

TV Fiction: SPECIAL PRIX EUROPA
Best Episode of a Television Fiction Series or Serial of the Year 2008
Donated by YLE – Finnish Broadcasting
Silver Stars (Hopeanuolet) Episode 1/3 - Finland - entered by YLE

TV Documentary: PRIX EUROPA
Best Television Documentary Programme of the Year 2008
Testimony - Romania - entered by Starcrest Media (co-prod. ARTE)

TV Documentary:  SPECIAL PRIX EUROPA
Best Regional, Local or Low-Budget Television Documentary of the Year 2008
Donated by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe
Ada Gallery (Galeria Ady) - Poland - entered by Filmstudio Everest

TV Current Affairs: PRIX EUROPA
Best Television Current Affairs Programme of the Year 2008
Donated by the Directorate of Communication of the Council of Europe
Men in Danger (Males en Péril) - France - entered by Point du Jour (co-prod Arte France)

PRIX EUROPA TV IRIS
Best Multicultural Television Programme of the Year 2008
Donated by the Nederlandse Programma Stichting - NPS
God's Waiting Room - United Kingdom - entered by Century North

PRIX GENÈVE –EUROPE
Best Television Fiction Script of the Year 2008 by a Newcomer
Donated by the European Alliance for Television and Culture (EATC)
Fortunes - France - entered by ARTE France

2. Radio
Radio Fiction: PRIX EUROPA
Best European Radio Drama of the Year 2008
Donated by Radio France
The Picture Man - United Kingdom - entered by the BBC

Radio Fiction: PRIX EUROPA
Best Episode of a Radio Drama Series or Serial of the Year 2008
Donated by  Norwegian Broadcasting NRK
The Fish Tank  (Le Bocal) - France - entered by ARTE France

Radio Documentary: PRIX EUROPA
Best European Radio Documentary of the Year 2008
Mother's Shadow (Mutters Schatten-Kehraus im Elternhaus) - Germany - entered by NDR/ARD

Radio Documentary: SPECIAL PRIX EUROPA
Donated by Radio Österreich 1 - ORF
1 Minute (1 Minuut) - Netherlands - entered by NPO

3.  Emerging Media
PRIX EUROPA EXPLORATION
Best European Emerging Media Project of the Year 2008
Gaza/Sderot - Life in Spite of everything - France - entered by ARTE France
http:// gaza-sderot.arte.tv

Details about key staff, co-producers and special commendations are available in the attached Award Winner's List.

PRIX EUROPA 2008: High quality in European Media productions
Once again PRIX EUROPA 2008 has proven that quality productions do exist in television, radio and emerging media. For a week PRIX EUROPA brought together the diverse European cultures and media productions in Berlin. Depending on the country, mentality and budget the nominated productions varied in the way they were made and the themes they tackled. But some pan-European trends became visible.
"There is a growing readiness within the broadcasting organisations to let real life tell its stories, and not to look the other way - even if it hurts", says Festival Director Susanne Hoffmann. "The subjects that are dealt with are often hard-hitting. But the approach is always full of respect and the results are highly authentic. What is also striking is the fact that there are many co-productions, some from more than one country. National borders are readily being crossed when it comes comes to producing quality programmes. Europe is growing together."

Run on Emerging Media
The fresh spirit of PRIX EUROPA showed itself especially in the multimedia category Emerging Media. The room was crowded when Peter Harvey of BBC Science and Nature and Silvia Costeloe of BBC Blast talked about the dilemna of public broadcasters when it comes to making use of the emerging media in their workshop "Websites we wish we'd built".
Daniel Karlsson and Andrea Borgnino, project manager of EBU New Radio, followed with "The workshop that makes you want to stream".
A total of 20 websites by European broadcasters were presented, discussed and assessed in the three day jury session.

"The Berlin Summit" – The Conference of the Cultural Radio Managers
41 European cultural radio managers from 23 countries gathered on 24 October 2008 to undergo a fitness and performance test for their radio channels. The essence of the conference was to state the great importance of cultural radio in a situation where the  global economy has gone to pieces through the immorality of financial business. The need for culture and orientation is growing. This is the chance for cultural radio.
"Culture is not about glamour but about the way a society behaves and communicates. That's why cultural radio is so important because it gets across content that is relevant to everybody. All in all, there are more radio listeners than television audiences. Radio is a discreet companion and there when it is needed" said Raina Konstantinova, Director of Radio at the European Broadcasting Union EBU, who opened the conference. "Sharing.our experiences here is very important in order to be successful in the future."The summit was hosted by Karl Karst, programme director of WDR 3 and chairman of the EBU Culture Group.

Public Radio Panel: "Cultural Radio – why and who for?"
One of the highlights of the festival was the 90-minute panel discussion about cultural radio on 24 October. André Heller had come from Austria, the journalist and author Roger de Weck flew in from Switzerland and Lea Rosh and Olaf Zimmermann were invited from Germany. The question "Cultural Radio – why and who for?" was discussed publicly in a studio packed with cultural radio managers and journalists.
Roger de Weck pleaded that public broadcasters and the cultural radio channels should use the chance in a fast homogenous media environment to provide and organise a forum for dialogue rather than being a random marketplace.  
The discussion will be broadcast in the German-speaking countries Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Recordings in German and English will be made available to all EBU radios via the Euroradio News Platform (http://euroradionews.ebu.ch/).

 Growing PRIX EUROPA Alliance
Five new partners joined the festival this year: the broadcasting organisations Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) from Ireland, Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) from Norway, Television Magyar Televízió (MTV) from Hungary, SRG SSR idée suisse from Switzerland and the Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Utbildningsradio (UR). The PRIX EUROPA Alliance now consists of 25 partners.
 
For further information, press materials or photos please contact:
PRIX EUROPA press department:
Adele Seelmann, Tel: +49 (0)30 97 99 3 – 109 11
Susanne Kettelför, Tel: +49 (0)30 97 99 3 – 109 13
Fax: +49 (0)30 97 99 3 109 19
press@prix-europa.de

Festival Venue
PRIX EUROPA / RBB
18– 25 October 2008
Haus des Rundfunks
Masurenallee 8–14, 14057 Berlin, Germany
www.prix-europa.de

[back]