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Prix CIRCOM Regional Award Ceremony
Contrasting sectors of European regional broadcasting are honoured in the Prix Circom Regional, the awards for the best programmes from Europe’s regional public service TV stations. Two of the programme awards go to BBC London, two to German stations, one to a Danish station and two go also to CTV Ostrava in the Czech Republic. Gareth Furby, of BBC London, won the Video Journalism Award for the second year in succession. The programme category awards were announced in Nürnberg, Germany, on Monday 12th April, after an international judging panel reached its verdict following four days of viewings hosted by BRF Studio Franken. The Grand Prix (The Best of the Best) was not be announced until the Circom Regional Conference in Valletta, Malta. The awards are worth 27,000 euros to the winners and the representative of the winning station attended the conference at Circom’s expense to collect the impressive bronze trophy. The awards are sponsored by several European public service broadcasters: France TV, BBC, ERT 3 Greece, RTVSlo Slovenia, TG4 Ireland, SVT Sweden and TVP Poland. In addition, this year two other organisations are among the sponsors: the Dutch Cultural Media Fund and SES-Astra, the satellite distribution company.
The seven winning stations are: BBC London (twice); CTV Ostrava, Czech Republic (twice); TV2 Oestjylland, Denmark; Bayerischer Rundfunk, Munich, Germany; Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt.
There were 119 entries from 25 different countries. The programme categories were Documentary, Magazine, Most Original, Fiction/Drama, Sport, Vivre l’Europe and Video Journalism. In the Station Web Site category no entry wasnamed as the outright winner - read more...
The winning station in each category receives prize money of 3,000 euros and a trophy. The winning stations were invited to send a representative of the programme to Valletta, expenses paid for travel and two nights’ accommodation, to collect the award at a gala evening event attended by the senior executives and producers of Europe’s public service broadcast regional stations.
David Lowen, Chairman of the Judges and President of the Prix, said in Nürnberg: “The awards have been as fiercely contested as ever. They are a great showcase for regional public service broadcasting, which has sought to maintain quality during tough economic times. It is especially encouraging that we are now receiving award entries from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania and even Armenia. Special congratulations must go to Gareth Furby. It is a tremendous accolade to win this award twice running.”
Most programme entries came from the UK (15), closely followed by Poland (14), Ireland (13), Sweden (12), Germany (10) and Denmark (8). Encouragingly for the health of Europe’s regional broadcasting, there were entries from small broadcasters such as those in Armenia, Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and PBS Malta, which will host the award presentation gala.
The judges were:
Grethe Haaland, NRK Oslo, Norway Dieuwke Kroes, TV Omroep Fryslan, The Netherlands Maire ni Chonlain, TG4 Galway, Ireland Vladimir Stvrtna, CTV Ostrava, Czech Republic Boris Bergant, RTVSlo Ljubljana, Slovenia Jean-Christian Spenle, France TV Bordeaux, France Tony O’Shaughnessy, BBC Wales, Wales Wojciech Malinowski, TVP Wroclaw, Poland Nick Simons, BBC Scotland, Scotland Jane Isaksson, SVT Orebro, Sweden Kostas Bliatkas, ERT Thessaloniki, Greece Natalino Fenech, PBS, Malta Erika Kocsor, MTV Szeged, Hungary Frank Böhm, HR Frankfurt, Germany
The complete list of winning and commended programmes and stations is:
VIVRE L'EUROPE Winner: Our Czech Character: Heart Attack in the Centre of Europe (CTV Ostrava) Commended: Europe Today and Tomorrow (RTVSlo Maribor, Slovenia); Young Refugees (SVT Malmo, Sweden); Crossing Borders: On The Other Side Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, Dresden, Germany)
DOCUMENTARY Winner: Plane Crash in the Arctic Ocean (TV2 Oestjylland, Denmark) Commended: Pekin 2008 (TVP3 Katowice, Poland); When the Kingdom of Heaven Collapses (SVT Vasteras, Sweden).
VIDEO JOURNALISM Winner: Gareth Furby (BBC London, UK) Commended: Magnus Brenna Lund (NRK Ostfold)
SPORT Winner: In the Wild Rapids of Colorado (CTV Ostrava, Czech Republic) Commended: On the Crest of a Wave (TG4 Galway, Ireland)
MOST ORIGINAL Winner: Street Stars (Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt Main, Germany) Commended: The Bergen Railway: Minute by Minute (NRK Hordaland, Norway)
STATION WEB SITE Winner: no entry named as the outright winner - read more... Commended: TV2 Fyn, Denmark and HR-online Germany
Every year, the Prix Circom Regional honours the best regional productions. These are the most important international awards for regional programmes and were first presented in 1990.
Categories change from year to year. For instance, in 1992 the awards were for Best Documentary, Best Direction, Best Fiction and Best Cross-Border Programme. In 1993, there was an award for Best Youth programme.
The award juries comprise experts working as producers in regional stations. The awards are presented at the Circom Regional Annual Conference, hosted every year by a national network in a regional centre.