Nordic public service media companies in Denmark, Norway and Sweden have won six of the 10 categories of the Prix CIRCOM 2018 – the prestigious contest for the best programming and skills in Europe’s TV regions. TV/Midt-Vest, Denmark, won two category awards, as did the BBC, UK.
As well as NRK Nordland and NRK Hordaland (Norway), SVT Öst (Sweden) and TV/Midt-Vest and TV2 Fyn stations (Denmark), other winners are BBC Yorkshire and BBC London (UK), CT Studio Brno (Czech Republic) and TG4 Ireland. In addition, France TV won the co-production award.
The Grand Prix winner – the best of the 10 category winners – is Stortvildet, NRK Nordland, Norway, winner of the Most Original and Innovative category. The Grand Prix winner was announced on May 24th 2018 at a gala awards show hosted by TV station Omrop Fryslân at the CIRCOM Conference in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands.
Commended awards went to the BBC, with three categories from BBC London, BBC South and BBC West Midlands, France 3 Île-de-FranceTV, TVR Bucharest Romania, Omrop Fryslân and Omroep West – both in The Netherlands – RTBF Belgium and RTV Crne Gore Montenegro. Commended in the co-production award went to RAI Italy.
There were 223 entries in the main awards with a further 21 in the co-production award for Citizenship projects. The judging was by 14 TV professionals from all over Europe in Tampere, Finland, as guests of the Finland public broadcaster, YLE, last week.
David Lowen, President of Prix CIRCOM:
“Congratulations to all the winners and commended – and those who came so near to winning also. We are delighted with the number and high quality of the entries. Anyone viewing these programmes and seeing the skills which went to making them will know that public service media is thriving on TV, online and on social media.”
This year stations were allowed two entries in some categories and the criteria in nearly all categories emphasised the opportunity for involving viewers and encourages multi-platform activity.
The full list of the winners and commended in all categories:
Category: DOCUMENTARY
Winner: The Sound of Life (Lyden af liv), TV/Midt-Vest, Denmark
Commended: The Collector (Le collectionneur), France 3 Paris Île-de-France, France
Category: ENTERTAINMENT AND DRAMA
Winner: Grace Harte, TG4, Ireland
Commended: Jennifer de Vries Vlog-Soap, Omrop Fryslân, The Netherlands
Category: EUROPE
Winner: Norwegian Prison, BBC London, UK
Commended: Norway: The Electric Car Boom (Norvège: le boom de la voiture électrique), RTBF, Belgium
Category: INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
Winner: Land of Milk and Honey (Lykkelandet), NRK Hordaland, Norway
Commended: Mechanism – The Big Tax Break (Mehanizam - poreski (k)raj), RTV Crne Gore, Montenegro
Category: MINORITIES IN SOCIETY
Winner: A Boy Like Liam (En pojke som Liam), SVT Öst, Sweden
Commended: Gold for Old (Goud voor oud), Omroep West, The Netherlands
Category: MOST ORIGINAL AND INNOVATIVE
Winner of the category and the Grand Prix winner: Stortvildet, NRK Nordland, Norway
Commended: Crime on Craigslist, BBC West Midlands
Category: MUSIC AND ARTS
Winner: Solo for One Hand (Solo pro jednu ruku), ČT Studio Brno, Czech Republic
Commended: #Creativ (Season 2 Episode 1 - The Violonist and Composer Vlad Maistorovici) #Creativ (Sezonul 2 Episodul 1 - violonistul si compozitorul Vlad Maistorovici), TVR Bucharest, Romania
Category: NEWS STORIES FOR ALL
Winner: A Healthier Funen (Et sundere Fyn), TV2 Fyn, Denmark
Commended: Tube Noise, BBC London, UK
Category: VIDEO JOURNALISM
Winner: Jamie Coulson, BBC Yorkshire, UK
Commended: Ben Moore, BBC South, UK
Category: YOUNG ONSCREEN TALENT
Winner: Katrine Fuglsang, TV/Midt-Vest, Denmark
Special Award for CITIZENSHIP CO-PRODUCTION
Winner: The Greek Trap (Le piège grec), France Télévisions, France
Commended: My Land (Terramia), RAI, Italy
The judges were: Dite Dinesz (TVR Timisoara, Romania), Zsuzsanna Antala (MTVA Szeged, Hungary), Bas Treffers (RTV Oost, The Netherlands), Klaus Unterberger (ORF, Austria), Caroline Ní Dhubhchóin (TG4, Ireland), Carlo de Blasio (RAI Napoli, Italy), Jean-Marc Dubois (France TV), Marta Gómez González (TV Galicia, Spain), Nils Chöler (SVT Nyheter, Sweden), David Holdsworth (BBC, UK), Kacper Kowalewski (TVP, Poland), Gunnar Henrich (Hessischer Rundfunk, Germany), Elina Ravantti (YLE, Finland), Daria Marjanović (HRT, Croatia).
The sponsors and categories are:
ORF Austria, sponsor of Grand Prix
RTÉ Ireland, sponsor of Documentary
TPA Asturias-TVG Galicia, sponsors of Entertainment and Drama
European Committee of the Regions, sponsor of Europe
Council of Europe, sponsor of Investigative Journalism
France Télévisions, sponsor of Minorities in Society
TVP Poland, sponsor of Most Original and Innovative
TG4 Ireland, sponsor of Music and Arts
SVT Sweden, sponsor of News Stories For All
BBC UK, sponsor of Video Journalism
TVR Romania, sponsor of Young Onscreen Talent
In addition, participating stations in the CIRCOM co-production and co-operation project Citizenship, supported by the European Parliament, have a Special Award for the best features which attracts a further trophy, award and visit to the conference and awards.