Prix CIRCOM 2006 Jury Report
2006 WINNERS ANNOUNCED
The winning programmes in Europe’s richest awards for television productions were announced after the judging session in Maribor, Slovenia.
The Polish public service broadcaster TVP3 has won four of the six awards for television programmes – in the categories for Documentary, News Report, Sport and Television Across Europe. The two other programme awards were won by the Swedish broadcaster SVT and France 3. SVT has won the other award – for Web.
Seven awards, including three for documentaries, were decided by a team of 14 programme makers from 14 different countries meeting over three days. There were 149 entries from 22 different countries.
The Grand Prix for Documentary is won by TVP3 Poznan with a 25-minute programme on how distressed mothers cope with the loss of children at or just after birth (MY BABY IS AN ANGEL/MOJE DZIECKO JEST ANIOLEM). The producer was Artur Polanski and the director Monika Gorska. The station wins the specially-designed trophy and prize money of 5000 euros. The director won travel and accommodation to the CIRCOM Regional conference, hosted by Danish regional broadcaster TVSyd, in Kolding, Denmark, 25-27 May.
All the awards were presented at a gala night attended by the executives of most of the European public service broadcasters and politicians in the historic castle of Kolding on 26 May.
The awards were announced by David Lowen, Chairman of the Prix CIRCOM Regional Awards.
Piotr Borys, Deputy Director, Programming Office TVP, said after the announcement: "TVP is delighted that such experienced international judges have recognised the quality of Polish television production in such a prestigious award. We are delighted for our channel, for our regional stations, for our staff, and of course for our viewers with whom we are very close - and who, we hope, enjoy our programmes as much as the judges."
The cash value of the awards is 24,000 euros – plus a trophy, trip to the CIRCOM Regional Annual Conference for the winning producer or director or station representative and the prestige and publicity which goes with winning one of the most sought after prizes in European television.
The Prix for News Report is won by TVP3 Krakow (LOST WALLETS/ZGUBIONE PORTFELE). The short news report, on what happened when some very honest children found and returned a wallet lost in the street, was made by reporter Wojciech Brzezinski. The producer was Pawel Mrozek. The station wins a trophy and prize money of 3,000 euros. The reporter is also invited to the conference and award ceremony.
The winner of the Television Across Award, sponsored by the European organisation the Committee of the Regions, is The Eastern Border Talks (ROZMOWKI WSCHODNIOGRANICZNE) from TVP3 Lublin. This is a 22-minute documentary on the lifestyle at the border between Poland and Ukraine. The director is Grzegorz Michalec. The award is worth 4,000 euros. This programme is part of a magazine series produced on both sides of the border by Polish and Ukrainian journalists in Wolyn.
The winner of the Sports Programme Award is The Masters (MASTERSI) from TVP3 Bialystok. This programme tells the story of three very old amateur swimmers and how their interest in sport keeps them active and together as friends. The award is sponsored by ERT3 Thessaloniki in Greece and is worth 3,000 euros. The director is Beata Hyzy-Czolpinska and the producer is Ryszard Urbaniak.
The newly-created category for Web Site was won by SVT Vaxjo. Leonard Wallentin is the editor of the site and the cheque for 3000 euros and the trophy will be collected on behalf of SVT by Christina Agren. The category was created to encourage stations to support their programming through the web by offering an extra service to viewers. The category is sponsored by SVT, ironically the first winners!
There are two further documentary awards.
The first award is for the quality of journalistic investigation. The winner of the France 3 Award is Evil From Out The Shadows (MÖRDAREN FRÅN) from SVT Sydnytt in Malmo. This was a programme on how the killer of a young girl was tracked down more than 15 years later with the help of medical advances in DNA testing. It was produced by Per Lärka. The award is worth 3,000 euros.
The second award gives special consideration to the quality of post-production editing. The winner of the Avid Award is We Weren’t Just Becassines (NOUS N'ETIONS PAS DES BECASSINES) from France 3 Ouest in Rennes. This was a programme about how young girls used to be despatched to Paris to work as domestic servants – perhaps as many as 200,000. The programme was directed by Thierry Compain and produced for France 3 Ouest by Saint Louis Productions. The award will be collected by Jean Michel Le Guennec, head of programmes for France 3 Ouest. The award is worth 3,000 euros and this is a new sponsorship.
Other programmes were specially commended by the judges. They are:
Documentary
All the Prodigies VSECHNY TY ZAZRACNE DETI (CT Brno, Czech Republic)
Sentenced To Freedom SKAZANA NA WOLNOSC (TVP3 Wroclaw, Poland)
The Inmates LES RESIDENTES (France 3 Bourgogne)
News
Faith In The Future (BBC West, UK)
Television Across Europe
Restoration Of The Organ at Frauenkirche, Dresden RENOVATION DE L'ORGUE DE LA FRAUENKIRCHE DE DRESDEN (France 3 Alsace)
The Day I Wanted To Go To Paradise DER TAG ALS ICH INS PARADIES WOLLTE (Hessicher Rundfunk, Frankfurt, Germany)
Sport
Dance of The Rivals RIVALERNES DANS (TV2 Ostjylland, Denmark)
Web sites
Regional programmes (BBC, UK)
David Lowen, chairman of the awards, said: “The entries were of high quality across a wide range. It is never easy to pick winners and the judges had a hard task. There is no doubt that the Polish stations were worthy winners and maybe more of us should be watching the way they make programmes – and interest their viewers”.
CIRCOM Regional is an organisation of almost 300 public service broadcasting stations in the regions of Europe and across 38 states. It was created to foster links between regional television stations.
CIRCOM Trainer wins Prix CIRCOM Award
Gerard Le Couedic from France 3 Formation, Paris was the winner of a special award at the Prix CIRCOM ceremony in Kolding, Denmark. The award was for his contribution and dedication to CIRCOM Training. Gerard is the leading Picture Editing trainer at France 3 and is highly respected in his country for his skill and professionalism. Gerard has been involved with CIRCOM training since the first workshop held in Iasi in 1994. Since that time he has contributed to the development of over 800 European journalists. Karol Cioma., Project Manager for CIRCOM Training states "Gerard has been a founder member and constant support for CIRCOM Training since it begain. He has now only worked tirelessly to help young people with their work, but has also impressed people with his editing style and his knowledge of the equipment used. In short, he has been an inspiration to a lot of people and has been a dear friend and colleague to all the CIRCOM trainers and technicians."