PRIX CIRCOM REGIONAL PROGRAMME AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
The winning programmes in Europe's richest awards for television productions were announced on Saturday, April 24th after the judging session in Galway, Ireland.
The awards were announced by Pol O'Gallchoir, the director general of TG4 Ireland, the broadcaster hosting the judging, and David Lowen, the Chairman of the Prix Circom Regional Awards.
The cash value of the awards is 36,500 euros – plus a trophy and the prestige and publicity which goes with winning one of the most sought after prizes in European television. The awards will be presented at the Circom conference in Wroclaw on the evening of Thursday 27 May. The award ceremony will be televised by TVP3. On the Friday 28 May, the winning entries will be shown during "Meet the winners" session where participant will have a chance to talk to the producers of winning entries.
In all, eight awards were decided by the judges from regional television stations in 14 different European states, meeting over four days at the Ardilaun House Hotel, Galway. Other programmes were specially commended. There were 173 entries from 26 different countries.
The German television station in Frankfurt, Hessischer Rundfunk, has won two of the awards. Polish television stations have won three of the eight trophies. The others are won by stations from The Netherlands, France and Denmark. The Danish award is for a co-production led by TV2 Syd which has involved up to 30 European regional television stations.
The Grand Prix for Documentary is won by Michael's Story, a film about an alcoholic, made by TVP3 Wroclaw in Poland. The producer was Beata Januchata. TVP3 Wroclaw wins a trophy and prize money of 7,500 euros.
The Grand Prix for News is won by Maintower, the nightly news programme from Hessischer Rundfunk, the ARD regional station at Frankfurt am Main in Germany. The editor was Ute Janik. HR wins a trophy and prize money of 6,500 euros.
The winner of the Current Affairs Award, sponsored by the European Parliament, is Belfast: The Children and the Curse of History, made by Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt. The award is worth 6,500 euros and the producer was Esther Schapira.
The winner of the Cross Border Programme Award, sponsored by the European organisation the Committee of the Regions, is The New Teenage Europe, a programme about how young people see Europe. This was a co-production led by TV Syd, Denmark, with executive producers Tim Johnson and Lene Kruger, and organised through Circom Regional. Twenty stations have been involved in supplying programme items and the winning edition included work from ERT3 Thessaloniki in Greece and from Slovakia TV. The award is worth 4,000 euros.
The winner of the Sports Programme Award – new this year to celebrate the Athens Olympics – is won by Their Blue, from TVP Katowice, Poland . The award is sponsored by ERT3 Thessaloniki in Greece and is worth 3,000 euros. The winning production team is Ewelina Tomasik, Donata Chrusciel and Ewa Kozik. Ewelina Tomasik was a trainee at the Circom Regional workshop in Grado last year.
The winner of the Most Original Programme Award is Look, There's Something In The Road, made by Omrop Fryslan in The Netherlands. The producer is Piter Tjeerdsma and the programme is a dream-like sequence in which an old hat retraces the life of its owner as he moves into old age and towards death. The award is sponsored by TVP3, the Polish regional challenge, and is worth 3,000 euros.
The winner of the SVT Sweden prize for Documentaries is Earth Promised the Sky from France 3 Alsace, about the continuing search for bodies near Srbrenica. The producer is Sabina Subasic. The award is worth 3,000 euros.
The winner of the France 3 Award for Documentaries is See You from TVP3 Szczecin, Poland. The programme is about the struggle of a boy pianist who is blind. The production team is Grzegorz Fedorowksi and Zbigniew Grefkowicz. The award is worth 3,000 euros.
The programmes specially commended by the judges are:
• Documentary - Silence of the Lambs, Happiness of the Wolves (TVP3 Poland)
• News - Facts (TVP3 Wroclaw)
• Sport - Fearless (RTE Ireland ) and 7 th Class (Imrop Fryslan)
• Current Affairs - Romanian Twins (BBC Northern Ireland)
• Cross Border - Living Merchandise (TVR Romania)
• Most Original - 7 th Class (Imrop Fryslan)