Grand jubilee edition of the International Feature Conference (IFC) in Cork

The founding father Leo Braun thanks the hosts and supporters of the 45th IFC at Castlemartyr in East Cork, Ireland

The self-proclaimed ‘mere’ programme maker in his alluring manner, called on the dead, the retired, the currently active and fledgling radio crowd - and implored them to continue in their relentless effort to renew themselves as people and their craft.

James Joyce once wrote: Shut Your Eyes And See.

And so it happened, that in just four days the annual migration of radio disciples tuned into 30 radio features: discussed, questioned, wondered, learned, imparted wisdom on 10 full length features and many more excerpts of programmes all had listened to ahead of time.

This Irish IFC group increased to well over 200 people this year. Radio nurtures its own offspring through the Åke Blomström Memorial Prize and last year's promising newcomers got to showcase their first features. All the while the newly selected Åke Blomström hopefuls are rearing to go and learn from their experienced coaches.

Liam O’Brien and the entire RTÉ team made it all seem so effortless. Work and play in equal measure.

With the Bull trophy the reign was handed over to Daria Corrias and Fabiana Carobolante from Rai, Italy.

We look forward to the 46th IFC in Rome!

Hosts and speakers:

Michael D Higgens - Irish President (video message),

Noel Curran - Director General of the EBU (video message), Séan Mac Giolla Padraig  - Group Head of Factual, RTÉ, Tom McGuire - The Head of RTÉ Radio 1, Celene Craig - Deputy Chief Executive of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), Silvia Lahner - Chair of EURORADIO (EBU) Features Group, Gabriela Hermer - Chair of Åke Blomström Award

European Journalist of the Year 2018

photo copyright Oliver Wolff

Laurent Richard

was awarded with the

PRIX EUROPA 2018 Outstanding Achievement Award

European Journalist of the Year

PRIX EUROPA 2018 Winners

photo copyright Oliver Wolff

These are the winners of PRIX EUROPA 2018!

PRIX EUROPA 2018 Awards Ceremony Livestream

Changing Europe - Reflecting all Voices!

Watch the PRIX EUROPA 2018 Awards Ceremony live online:

PRIX EUROPA Potsdam Declaration

Changing Europe - Reflecting all Voices!

Potsdam Declaration

of 19 October 2018

by the 21 broadcasters from the PRIX EUROPA Steering Committee:

“In times such as ours, with increased polarization, populism and fixed positions, public broadcasters have a vital role to play across Europe.”

TOP 5 Nominations European Journalist of the Year 2018

These are the TOP 5 Nominations for the

PRIX EUROPA 2018 Outstanding Achievement Award

European Journalist of the Year

Martin Boudot (France) – Investigative documentary maker

Poul-Erik Heilbuth (Denmark) – International documentary maker

Orkhan Jemal (Russian Federation) – Former Humanitarian Crises Journalist 

Laurent Richard (France) – Investigative Filmmaker and founder of ForbiddenStories

Bettina Rühl (Germany) – Radio feature and documentary Journalist 

(in alphabetical order!)

The successful candidate will be announced during the

PRIX EUROPA 2018 Awards Ceremony on Friday, 19 October.

PRIX EUROPA 2018 Sneak Preview

PRIX EUROPA 2018 Sneak Preview -

What you can look forward to at PRIX EUROPA 2018

Thundering speeches and Nazi salutes. How do you do an in-depth portray of a Nazi movement without sacrificing journalistic standards? Are you not offering platforms for propaganda? What are the deals you have to make as a journalist to be able to enter the no-go areas of right wing movements, prostitution, human smugglers, drug traffickers or global multinationals of the digital age? How have others perhaps managed to gain access, confront their protagonists or drawn their conclusions from the layers of complex information available? How can you reflect all voices?

These are some of the questions that will come up at PRIX EUROPA 2018, which is putting forward a political 32nd edition this year. The big themes revolve around the further effects of globalisation e.g. drawing attention to the Filipinos who clean the Internet or the corporations covering up the climate change, new global insurance policies against kidnapping. Stories of war, terror and flight – current and past - provide a running thread through many of the categories and offer a whole kaleidoscope of perspectives: African migrants imprisoned in Libya, Venezuelans populating the streets of Colombia filmed by a Finnish crew, Israeli soldiers giving testimony of their experiences in the occupied territories of Palestine; a family on the run from a fictitious totalitarian Germany begging for asylum in South Africa; British diaries from Word War 1 recount one real day at war; an Abkhazian father and his son Tedo describe their losses in a Georgian radio play; a Swedish app translates SVT programmes into the immigrant language of your choice.

One year after the start of #metoo, a prevalence of women’s stories is detectable – often told by women. They appear as victims, neglected, mistreated or brutalised, but also as veritable protagonists and heroines. The iconic Simone Veil, the first female politician in France after 1945, is portrayed; Alina, a young Ukrainian football player, has to take a career break to look after her ailing family; Mathilde tells the story of how she adopts the child she had with her same-sex partner in France; the life of cellist Frieda Belinfante (1904-1995) is told by her cello; Federica Mogherini, the EU’s representative for Foreign Policy, is observed by Italian-born director Annalisa Piras. Gender issues, sexual abuse and the war of the sexes further offer ample opportunity for the female perspective and experience.

Beyond the big social and political themes, however, there are numerous small gems of media-making, mosaic pieces of individual creativity without which PRIX EUROPA wouldn’t be the same. What music is best to strip to we learn in a 27 minute radio piece; the experience of being overweight is recounted in the Italian podcast ‘Meat’; the modernity in the Rosary Sonatas composed by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber in the 17th century is analysed through his music; artist Jonathan Meese and his mother Brigitte travel into the heart of the dictatorship of art in a virtual reality production and the gorilla Sally Jones, machinist on a small cargo ship in Lisbon, tells the story of a mysterious murder case on her typewriter. To mention just a few of all the voices reflected at PRIX EUROPA this year. Those who carefully watch and listen during the cram-packed festival week will have more than plenty to take home.

The Berlin Summit - Conference for Cultural Radio Managers: Cultural Radio in Europe: where next?

The Berlin Summit - Conference for Cultural Radio Managers:

Cultural Radio in Europe: where next?

by invitation only! Haus des Rundfunks, Helmut-Koch-Saal, 9:00 - 15:30

Introduction

Denis Nowlan (BBC/UK), Head of Station Management, Radio 3, Radio 4 – Chair of the EBU Culture Group

The Swiss ‘Referendum’

How public service broadcasting was saved: Hansruedi Schoch, Director of Programmes SRF/SRG/SSR (Switzerland)

Stormy weather elsewhere in Europe?

Susanna Arpi, Commissioning Editor P1 & P2 (DR/Denmark)

Mattias Hermansson, Head of Culture (SR/Sweden)

Peter Klein, Head of Ö1 (ORF/Austria)

Going Forward: initiatives and innovations from around Europe

Sandrine Treiner, Director & Vincent Lemerre, Head of Programming (Radio France/France Culture)

Chantal Pattyn, Head of Klara/Culture Manager (VRT/Belgium)

Josef Podstata, Director CR Ostrava and Olomouc (CR/Czech Republic)

Olga Buckley, Producer in Charge, RTÉ lyric fm (RTÉ/Ireland)

Re-inventing Cultural Radio for a new age

Richard Knight, Commissioning Executive, BBC Radio 4 (BBC/UK)

Mohit Bakaya, Factual Commissioning Editor, Radio 4 (BBC/UK)

Risks and opportunities in the age of Voice

Mukul Devichand, Executive Editor of Voice + AI (BBC/UK), 

The ‘Last Waltz’ – What does the future hold for Radio Orchestras?

Helen Boaden, former Director of Radio and Director of News at the BB

The open Europe and its enemies – Keynote

Prof. Ulrike Guérot, Head of Department for European Policy and the Study of Democracy, Danube University, Krems, Austria

Final Nomination List: European Journalist of the Year 2018

Nominations for European Journalist of the Year 2018

Over the last weeks colleagues from all over Europe have proposed candidates for the PRIX EUROPA Award for the European Journalist of the Year 2018. We were looking for ‘a journalist who has gone out of her or his way to bring new voices into public debate’. Proposals from all genres and formats of journalism were accepted.

Final Nomination List

PRIX EUROPA 2018 Outstanding Achievement Award

European Journalist of the Year

Roberto Antonini (Switzerland) – Radio Journalist

Phillip Boucher-Hayes (Ireland) – TV host and documentary maker 

Martin Boudout (France) – Investigative documentary maker

Sinan Can (The Netherlands) – Journalist and documentary maker

Line Elvsåshagen (Norway) – Journalist and TV host

Emma Clare Gabrielsen (Norway) – Documentary maker, writer and TV host

Marja Grill (Sweden) – Journalist and Documentary maker

Poul-Erik Heilbuth (Denmark) – International documentary maker 

Margaret Ikariou (Greece) – Radio Journalist

Orkhan Jemal (Russian Federation) – Former Humanitarian Crises Journalist 

Lioba Anna Keuck (Germany) – Photojournalist

Lina Makboul (Sweden) – Journalist and Producer

Laurent Richard (France) – Investigative Filmmaker and founder of ForbiddenStories

Moritz Riesewick and Hans Block (Germany) – Documentary maker

Nicole Rosenbach (Germany) – Investigative documentary maker

Bettina Rühl (Germany) – Radio feature and documentary Journalist 

Helen Beate Sandvig (Norway) –TV host and Journalist 

Elke Sasse (Germany) – Journalist, author and documentary maker

Jens Schröder (Germany) – Journalist and Producer

Thomas Sideris (Greece) – Journalist, writer and documentary maker

Tijs van den Brink (The Netherlands) – TV host and Journalist

Johan von Mirbach (Germany) – TV Editor and Video Journalist 

Julia Vorkefeld (Germany) – Journalist and Editor

Sebastian Weis (Germany) – Filmmaker and producer 

Tim Whewell (UK) – TV and Radio Journalist

Sahar Zand (UK) – Journalist and documentary maker

The successful candidate will be announced during the

PRIX EUROPA 2018 Awards Ceremony on Friday, 19 October.

PE MasterClass: How to survive on the choppy seas of independent radio/audio production

How to survive on the choppy seas of independent radio/audio production?

Alan Hall from London-based “Falling Tree Productions”

- “a hallmark of excellence when it comes to radio documentaries” – (The Observer)

in dialogue

with Belgian master students (Royal Institute for Theater, Cinema & Sound) and Swedish master students (Stockholm University of the Arts).

Thursday 18 October 2018 at 20:00h, Radio Fiction Room

Admission is free of charge, the number of seats is limited. Registration by email is required to press@prixeuropa.eu, the language spoken will be English.

PE MasterClass: Successful digitally based projects by public broadcasters

Successful digitally based projects by public broadcasters

Friday 19 October 2018 at 14:00h,

rbb Haus des Rundfunks, Room 105

PRIX EUROPA 2018 will exclusively host the MasterClass ‘Successful digitally based projects by public broadcasters’.

This is a unique opportunity to gain inside knowledge about how broadcasters are making a success of their digital projects.

Kirsty Drain (Senior Producer at BBC Scotland), will tell the success stories of ‘The Social & The Social 2.0’ under the heading: ‘Successful digital diversity on social media – and beyond’.  

Manuel Thalmann (programme developer for young target groups at the Swiss SRG SSR) will explore ‘Public Service on Youtube’. Meet SRG SSR (Schwitzerland), FUNK and RTS TAKAI.

And Kåre V. Poulsen (executive producer at DR, Denmark) will present ‘The relation triangle: Successful mixtures of cross media, co creation and partnerships’. In addition, he will present a selection of examples from Submarine Channel (The Netherlands): Advanced learning on Digital storytelling 2012-2018.

Kåre V. Poulsen and Manuel Thalmann, Coordinators of the PRIX EUROPA 2018 Online Jury Group, will moderate the conversation.

Admission is free of charge, the number of seats is limited. Registration by email is required to press@prixeuropa.eu, the language spoken will be English.

PE MasterClass: Connecting Europe – Reflecting all Voices

Connecting Europe – Reflecting all Voices

Friday 19 October 2018 at 14:00h,

rbb Haus des Rundfunks, Saal 2 (TV Documentary Room)

PRIX EUROPA 2018 will exclusively host the MasterClass ‘Connecting Europe – Reflecting all Voices’.

Major single piece and serial television documentaries from different countries will provide the focus of a conversation about experiences with international co-productions. Georg Tschurtschenthaler (Germany) will tell us how Gebrüder Beetz found international co-production partners and financing for their documentary ‘The Cleaners’ about the people who ‘clean’ the Internet; Eric Lieshout (Netherlands) will introduce his series ‘Made in Europe’; Stéphane Siohan (France) will talk about the complex media co-operations on his Ukrainian, Polish, French documentary ‘Home Games’; Daniela Drastasta (Croatia) and Frans Jennekens (Netherlands) will present a sneak preview of their just completed series ‘New Neighbours’ and Sören Klovborg (Denmark) will tell us about working with the Why Foundation on the documentary ‘Maid in Hell’. The conversation will be hosted by Ruurd Bierman, an acclaimed keynote speaker.

Grab the unique chance to compare notes with other experienced filmmakers, ask questions and share experiences.

Admission is free of charge, the number of seats is limited. Registration by email is required to press@prixeuropa.eu, the language spoken will be English.

Panel Debate - Radio as Cultural Hub

Radio as Cultural Hub 

Friday 19 October 2018 from 16:00 to 17:30 h,

rbb Haus des Rundfunks, Kleiner Sendesaal (Radio Documentary Room)

The Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung and the Goethe-Institute are happy to invite for a panel debate with the theme ‘Radio as Cultural Hub’ as part of PRIX EUROPA 2018. 

Public broadcasters have always played an important role in the cultural life of Europe. They are a platform were cultural programmes are produced and, as a result, become a cultural asset by themselves. However, due to a dramatic change in the media landscape as well as the political climate, the future of public broadcasters as cultural asset is uncertain. What significance have public broadcasters as cultural producers in the European societies? How could strategies for their maintenance look like? Those and other questions will be discussed from a variety of industry experts. 

Panelists

Helen Boaden: former BBC executive, Head of BBC News and BBC Radio from 2013-2016

Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung: Curator and artistic director from the art room ‘Savyy Contemporary Berlin’

Róise Goan: Curator, producer and author for theatre, TV and radio. Dramatic advisor of the Art Center Vooruit in Belguim

Kaye Mortley: Producer for French, Australian and almost every other European broadcaster. Mortley's cinematic radio productions have received numerous awards 

Dr. Christine Schöpf: Co-director of the media and art competition Ars Electronica. Former honorary professor of the Art University Linz

Moderator

Moderator: Vivian Perkovic (Tonart/ Deutschlandfunk and Kulturzeit/ZDF)

Admission is free of charge, the number of seats is limited. Registration by email is required to press@prixeuropa.eu, the language spoken will be English.

PRIX EUROPA & FIPADOC

PRIX EUROPA & FIPADOC

We are delighted to announce that PRIX EUROPA and FIPADOC will cooperate in promoting the excellency of documentary in public television in Europe.

As a first step in this cooperation all programmes nominated for the TV Documentary and TV Current Affairs categories of PRIX EUROPA 2018 will automatically be presented to the preselection of FIPADOC, provided the programmes have not yet premiered in France yet and the submitters have not refused to compete in FIPADOC.

The international documentary festival FIPADOC is taking place 22 - 27 January 2019 in Biarritz, France.

Call for proposals - European Journalist of the Year 2018

PRIX EUROPA the Continental Media Competition is looking for a European journalist who has gone out of her or his way to bring new voices into public debate.

Excellent journalism can highlight voices that are suppressed, misunderstood or just not commonly heard. Thus inspiring people with different experiences to talk - instead of just judging each other.

Journalism, seeking to reflect more voices, leads to better mutual appreciation and maintains the grounds of a healthy democracy.

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 PRIX EUROPA Award as European Journalist of the Year 2018 by sending her/his professional cv and attaching a short explanation for your proposal.

mail to: office@prixeuropa.eu

Deadline: 21 September 2018.

Martin Gaarder will be the second Coordinator of the TV Documentary Jury Group

Martin Gaarder will be the second Coordinator of the TV Documentary Jury Group

'We are living in times where opinions are distributed in a tempo and volume that the world has never seen before. Heated debates rattle on all media platforms. It is getting harder and harder to distinguish between facts and opinions, between reality and political spin/PR. Democracy needs a public that never gives up searching for the truth and finding out what is actually going on. One of the best tools to ensure that, is the TV documentary, based on thorough research, great storytelling and skilled filmmaking.' 

Martin Gaarder is a journalist and TV documentary director at Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK). He started out as a freelance newspaper journalist, and later worked on the foreign desk of Norwegian Press Agency (NTB). He has produced feature programmes for NRK since 1996, within a wide range of topics. Over the last decade he has been specializing in investigative and historical TV documentaries. In 2011 he received the Prix Italia award for best current affairs documentary, ‘Operation Sea Breeze’, about the fatal Israeli boarding of a ship with activists, heading for Gaza. 

Anna Birgersson-Dahlberg will coordinate the TV Documentary Jury Group

Anna Birgersson-Dahlberg will coordinate the TV Documentary Jury Group

‘To take part in the TV Documentary group of the PRIX EUROPA week is a great experience that makes you up to date on what´s going on in the documentary world at the moment. Watching the nominated documentaries for several days from morning to evening and discussing them together with the producers and jury members is an outstanding way to learn about current trends and new ideas when it comes to the important work of documentary making.

PRIX EUROPA gives the participants an excellent opportunity to learn more and to improve their skills.’

Anna Birgersson-Dahlberg has worked in Swedish public media, both radio and television for a long time, with all kinds of programming, including news, current affairs and investigative journalism as well as documentaries, entertainment and humour shows. For many years she was Head of UR International that includes acquisitions and international co-productions. Today she works as Head of Development and Training.

Marcus Gammel, Head of Radio Art (radio drama and documentary) at Deutschlandfunk Kultur, will coordinate the Radio Fiction Jury Group

Marcus Gammel, Head of Radio Art (radio drama and documentary) at Deutschlandfunk Kultur, will coordinate the Radio Fiction Jury Group

'Drama production in public radio is facing many challenges today: shrinking budgets, dwindling acceptance among decision makers, and a growing fragmentation of the audience. At the same time, creative radio is highly in demand: Many art institutions initiate their own channels, funding opportunities for independent productions are growing, and the podcast scene has brought a new drive into aesthetics and distribution. Now is the time to re-invent radio drama as a bridge between different structures in and outside public radio, as well as between different cultures in- and outside Europe.'

Marcus Gammel was born in Bremen / Germany, studied Musicology, German Literature and Philosophy at Humboldt University Berlin, Université Paris IV and New York University. He has worked as a music journalist, dramaturge, and radio maker in Germany and France. Since 2009, Marcus Gammel is curating the weekly sound art programme at Deutschlandradio / Deutschlandfunk Kultur. (...) In 2016, he was appointed Head of Radio Art (radio drama and documentary) at Deutschlandfunk Kultur.

PRIX EUROPA 2018 Congratulation to all the Nominees!

PRIX EUROPA 2018 Congratulation to all the Nominees!

The nominations for this year's competition are out!

Have a look what programmes will compete here in Berlin in October!

Riet De Prins will be the second Coordinator for this year's TV Fiction Jury Group

Riet De Prins will be the second Coordinator for this year's TV Fiction Jury Group

'Like all fiction formats, a good story is the base of a comedy show. But all the story principles count for comedy. Even more, comedy gives the story an opportunity by a very important extension. The story always starts with strange situations, malicious pleasures or painful emotions, but the humour is the glue that makes difficult topics go down and speakable. Comedy can be a secret weapon for democracy and social criticism. It’s a method to easily engage in social interaction by taking away uncomfortable feelings.

But I almost forget the most important thing: from a good feeling to a heavy belly laughter, comedy makes you laugh. And like McKee said: the audience is your jury! If they laugh, it works! If they don’t, it doesn’t!'

After finishing her studies at the film school in Brussels, she started her career as an assistant director, in the eighties at VRT, the public broadcaster in the Flemish part of Belgium. Who would ever believe that she is still working there? (...) For several years she was part of a team and worked with formats such as entertainment, live shows, music documentary. It was an opportunity to get to know all corners and borders of making television. But even in all these formats, she felt that the story was her thing (...)  And now for five seasons already, she produces an adult comedy show called ‘Fair Game’.