Rapporteur
Peter KITTELMANN (Germany)

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

Background

Founded in 1987, the Prix Europa is a prestigious annual festival celebrating the best television and radio productions in Europe. Its aim is contributing to overcome, national, regional or local boundaries and creating a television and radio community expressing the richness and diversity of our cultural heritage in Europe. Indeed, the promotion of programmes “made in Europe” via the Prix Europa is a crucial challenge both in the perspective of current globalisation but also for strengthening Europe’s construction via improved communication and mutual understanding among its citizens, thereby bringing Europeans together.

Following a meeting in 1986, the former Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe with the European Cultural Foundation in Amsterdam, and CIRCOM (Organisation of Regional and Local Television Stations), the Prix Europa was created. For its first year of existence, its aim was awarding prizes to programmes that most widely represented regional and local production with a European dimension.

The first prize-giving ceremony was held on 12 October 1987 in Amsterdam.

In following years, in order to strengthen the overall quality of entries’ the Prix Europa became open to all sorts of TV organisations: international, national, regional and local but all their competing programmes were “Made in Europe by Europeans”.

In 1997, 10 years after its creation, the Prix Europa merged with the established Prix Futura Berlin, an international Ratio and TV competition and, by that step is now a festival for both media.

Hence, right from the foundation of the Prix Europa, the Council of Europe and within it, the CLRAE, was a partner together with the European Cultural Foundation. The number of partners/sponsors has increased steadily since its creation and now includes partners from European Institutions, Regional authorities, TV producers, radio organisations, etc…)

In 1998, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe joined this list of partners.

Objectives of the Prix Europa

The Prix Europa is therefore now awarded to the best European television and radio programmes with the aim of publicizing them throughout Europe and supporting their distribution. Prix Europa makes a significant contribution for a vigorous exchange of programmes on our audio-visual market, necessary for preserving and promoting Europe’s rich diversity, but also for increased exchange among Europeans improving solidarity and good neighbour relations in our continent.

Every year, Prix Europa invites the best television and radio productions, their makers and managers from all European countries. They engage in debate and competition bringing about forum for discussing future programmes, influencing European media policy and increasing European programmes visibility worldwide.

Prix Europa honours programmes produced in Europe by European producers. The programmes’ quality, subject-matter and form must be of a standard that is convincing to viewers and experts alike. The programmes must feature contemporary issues and should provide access to the life and people of a European country, a region or town. They should bear the cultural imprint of their place of origin yet also reach people of other cultures.

The Jury and award ceremony takes place during the third week of October in Berlin and Potsdam-Babelsberg. During its first years of existence, it moved from one European city to another : Amsterdam (1987), Berlin (1988, 1992, 1994 and since 1996), Strasbourg (1989), Barcelona (1990), Reykjavik (1991), Porto (1993), Marseille (1995).

Over 4 000 media experts from all over Europe (heads, producers, authors, staff) receive information on the Prix Europa on a regular basis and receive entry forms each year. Entry forms and information are also available on the Internet site: http://www.prix-europa.de.

Since its creation, the total number of applicants and the total number of countries involved has significantly increased. In 2000, 641 television and radio programmes from 37 countries entered into competition (30 % more than in 1999). Almost 800 participants from 40 countries took part in the prize giving ceremony which was also a new record (see table 2.).

Adjudication

What makes PRIX EUROPA special is that adjudication is not in the hands of traditional juries. Instead, at PRIX EUROPA the judging is open to all delegates who undertake to view or audition together all the programmes in one of the categories, discuss them in public, and then assess them using a points system. The addition of these points determines the winning entries. Decisions reached in this way are final.

Each television organisation and free producer may send two delegates to serve in each adjudication group.

In addition, however, an unlimited number of observers can participate in all sessions of the adjudication groups. Observers may take part in the discussions, but not in the selection of the prize winners.

Countries taking part in Prix Europa

Austria, Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Switzerland, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, France, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Iceland, Lithuania, Latvia, “The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, Moldova, Norway, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Russian Federation, Romania, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

TABLE 2: Number of participating countries from 1997 to 2000

Respective share of radio and television in the Prix Europa

Television and radio programmes produced by local or regional organisations make up a significant part of the total entries for competition (nearly 50 % of total entries) thereby highlighting their vitality in Europe’s audiovisual scene. Tables 3 and 4 illustrate their repartition in the various categories.

TABLE 3: PROGRAMMES IN THE PRIX EUROPA 1999 (AFTER PRESELECTION) ENTERED BY LOCAL AND REGIONAL ORGANISATIONS

Television

Radio

N.B.: In categories marked with a*, a Special Prize for the best production entered by a local or regional organisation or a low-budget production was awarded.

TABLE 4: PROGRAMMES IN THE PRIX EUROPA 2000 (AFTER PRESELECTION) ENTERED BY LOCAL AND REGIONAL ORGANISATIONS

Television

Radio

N.B.: In categories marked with a*, a Special Prize for the best production entered by a local or regional organisation or a low-budget production was awarded.
Considering the number of entries in the categories eligible for the Special Prize awarded by the CLRAE, the figures show an increasingly high proportion of programmes entered by regional or local organisations. This shows the impact of the Special Prize of the Congress, which acts as an incentive for local and regional organisations for entering into the competition. This also clearly illustrates the growing importance of regional television in Europe.

One can also detect a fairly high percentage of radio programmes from local and regional organisations entering into the competition in 1999 an 2000, despite the fact that no incentive exists comparable to the Special Prize awarded by the Congress for television programmes. This leads the Rapporteur to suggest that the CLRAE should consider opening a new prize for the best radio programmes entered by local and regional organisations with low-budgets. This would not only give full recognition to the importance of both media, television and radio, at local and regional level, but in addition, this new prize would take stock of the current trend for local and regional radio to play a significantly increasing part in the overall market. Such a trend is visible all over Europe including Central and Eastern European countries. In 2000 for instance, the Prix Europa registered entries from different regions of Poland in radio dramas and documentaries while similar trends are emerging in other former centralized States.

A very important aspect to be underlined is that nearly 50 % of all television and radio programmes selected for competition in the Prix Europa are entered by regional or local organisations. This proves that regional and local television and radio are alive and kicking and take 50 % share of the Prix Europa. The Special Prize offered by the Congress is therefore extremely pertinent and should be extended to cover not only television but also radio.

Media coverage of the event

The competition lasting a whole week (third week of October) receives a very wide media coverage each year, ensuring a wide publicity of the event and hence high visibility to its sponsors and partners, the Council of Europe and CLRAE included. A representative of the CLRAE annually takes part in the award ceremony and makes the award to the winner of the Special Prize (appendix 2).

In 2000, for instance, more than 30 news and reports from News Agencies were issued including German, Czech, Polish, Russian, Italian, Swedish, Austrian and Estonian agencies. Over 350 news articles and reports were published. The event was followed by 19 Television Stations from 11 countries and over 40 Radio Stations.

Award ceremonies are also occasions for inviting not only artists, media, professionals, experts, but also personalities. In particular, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr Walter Schwimmer, awarded a Special Prize. In 2000, on the occasion of the 50^th Anniversary of the Human Rights Convention, the prize was awarded to the programme giving the most convincing message on the theme of human freedom and dignity.

Contribution to the promotion of the Council of Europe values

With a view to better highlighting its contribution to the construction of a peaceful Europe, as from the year 2000, Prix Europa includes a new award: the Prix Europa Iris, presented to television productions which deal with multicultural aspects of European societies. The initiative for this award comes from the organisers of four similar prizes at national level (in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium). The main goal of the Prix Iris was to stimulate programme makers and journalists to making programmes that promote mutual understanding and challenge xenophobia, bias and racial discrimination.

Yearbook

Following the competition and award ceremony, the Prix Europa annually publishes a compilation of all top ten programmes in all categories for television and radio. This yearbook is of crucial importance for disseminating the results of the competition and for facilitating contacts among producers and the media market thereby allowing a wide exchange of programmes across Europe. It has become striking in this context, that TV winners of the Prix Europa (fiction or non-fiction) are now sold to up to 10 European countries, where as 10 years ago, such an intense exchange was unthinkable.

Possibility of support to media professionals from Central and Eastern European countries

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the possibility to apply for grants was recently added, to cover travelling and accommodation costs for media professionals from Central and Eastern European countries taking part in the event in Berlin.

Conclusion

In conclusion, launched at the initiative of the CLRAE and the European Cultural Foundation in 1987, the Prix Europa is now a truly pan-European media festival with a steadily increasing number of entries and participants, reflecting how vivid and productive television and radio productions are in Europe, reminding us of our diversity, our common values, our closeness and our challenges.

Innovating from year to year, with new sponsors, new categories focused on issues totally in line with the values at the heart of the Council of Europe and of the CLRAE, the Prix Europa no doubt will continue to be successful.

There can be no democracy without free, pluralist and independent media –no Europe, without mutual understanding and tolerance – no future, without this ambitious strive for culture. The Congress should be proud of its vision in contributing to the initiation of the Prix back in 1987 and should now consider extending its contribution to radio productions by organising a competition for local and regional radio organisations.

The Congress therefore warmly welcomes the development and consolidation of regional (and local) media which seems to be the trend in Europe at present. It is sure to give greater weight to the aspirations, the identity and the specific concerns of Europe’s citizens.

However, this trend must go hand in hand with an increase in dialogue and co-operation between Europeans and between the regions of Europe. The Congress should therefore also examine possible means of fostering this dialogue and co-operation between Europe’s regions and their media professionals, through the Prix Europa but also through other programmes.

It would be useful in particular for the Committee on Culture and Education of the Chamber of Regions of the Congress to take a look at the European and regional programmes that already exist, to see what programmes might be developed in order to encourage and support co-production activities between regional media, training and exchanges between regional media professionals.¹ Encouragement should also be given to regional productions in areas where they will contribute to the promotion of the values that form the very foundation of the construction of peace and democracy in Europe, ie productions that contribute to improved education in democracy and participation, in tolerance and intercultural dialogue, and in science and the new technologies, which are vital challenges in our present-day societies.

APPENDIX 1

FOUR CATEGORIES OF THE PRIX EUROPA TELEVISION

1. FICTION CATEGORY

2. NON-FICTION CATEGORY

3. CURRENT AFFAIRS CATEGORY

4. IRIS CATEGORY

The entrant decides the category in which the production is to be entered.

FOUR CATEGORIES OF THE PRIX EUROPA RADIO

1. DOCUMENTARY CATEGORY

2. DRAMA CATEGORY

3. MARKETPLACE CATEGORY:

3.1. Programmes that gain access to their audience in new ways through their concept, their communication, their production style or their media strategy.

3.2. Programmes practitioners who are willing to expose themselves to things that are new and, perhaps, become infected by them.

4. CURRENT AFFAIRS CATEGORY: new category for topical programmes.

The entrant decides the category in which the production is to be entered.

APPENDIX 2

SPECIAL PRIX EUROPA TELEVISION
DONATED BY THE CLRAE FOR THE BEST PROGRAMME
FROM A LOCAL OR REGIONAL TV STATION,
OR THE BEST LOW-BUDGET PRODUCTION

2000 “Such a nice boy I gave birth to”
Telewizja Polska SA, Poland
by Marcin Koszalka (Author)

TVP Channel 1 (Producer)

1999 “Martina - against the odds / Martina - Mot alla Odds”

Sveriges Television - SVT, Sweden
by Tom Alandh (Author / Director / Producer)

1998 “Mama General”

3sat / ZDF, Filmkraft; Germany
by Peter Heller (Author, Director, Producer), Sylvie Banuls (Author)

1997 “The Scar”

by The Amber Production Team; United Kingdom

1996 “From the lives of Elves / Is elfu gyvenimo

by Janina Lapinskaite (Author and Director)
Lithuanian Radio & TV (Producer)

1995 “Three days in April / Drei Tage im April

by Oliver Storz (Author and Director)
Süddeutscher Rundfunk, Arte and ORF (Producer)

1994 “Suzana from the Cellar / Suzana iz Podruma”

by/von: Sukrija Omeragic (Author and Director)
RTV Bosnia i Herzegovina (Producer)

1993 “Everything I like / Všetko co mám rád”

by Martin Sulík and Ondrej Sulaj (Author)
Martin Sulík (Director); Rudolf Biermann (Producer)
Slovenská Televízia

1992 “Video letters”

by Colin Thomas and Philip Priestley (Directors)
David Parker (Producer)
Forum TV, Great Britain

1991 “A small dance”

by Lucy Gannon (Author)
Alan Horrox (Director and Producer)
Thames Television PCL, Great Britain

1990 “Villages and villages – Zig Zag / Paesi e Paesi - Zig Zag”

by Giovanni Columbu (Author and Director)
RAI Sardegna, Italy

1989 “Somewhere to run”

by Matthew Jacobs (Author)
Carol Wiseman (Director)
Thames Television, Great Britain

1988 “Turning the Tide – into Deep water”

by David Bellamy (Author)
Paul Dickin (Director)
Tyne Tee TV, Great Britain

APPENDIX 3

PRIX EUROPA 2000

Europe has selected its best
television and radio programmes of 2000

People from all over Europe have gathered in Berlin and Potsdam-Babelsberg from 14 to 21 October to present what television and radio stations between Reykjavik and the Urals, Sicily and the North Cape had to offer - and to award prizes to the best programmes of the year. All the signs that we were in for a year of superlatives were confirmed: 641 television and radio programmes from 37 countries were entered for PRIX EUROPA 2000 - thirty per cent more than last year. The local television stations B 1 and ORB screened 30 films direct from the competition, including seven productions that were awarded prizes or special commendations at the prize-giving ceremony in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Almost 800 participants from 40 countries took part - also a new record.

PRIX EUROPA 2000 - the winners are ...

A total of nine adjudication panels have finished their work, and the decisions have been made. The best European television and radio programmes of this year come from Germany (three prizes, three special commendations), Sweden (three prizes, one special commendation) and Poland (three prizes), followed by Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands (one prize and one special commendation each), Belgium and Ireland (one prize each), France (two special commendations), and Austria and Switzerland (one special commendation each).

Up to 60 participants per adjudication panel discussed the productions, and they were really spoilt for choice, because the standard of entries, particularly in the documentary and fiction categories, was remarkably high. They took us to exploding cities and isolated villages, reflected acute, sometimes lethal conflicts, and spoke of a longing to live in harmony with ourselves, the environment and nature. Often it was a matter of sheer survival, sometimes a quest for meaning. The appeal for tolerance and peacefulness could not be overheard.

Whatever the genre - whether film, reportage, magazine, radio play or documentary - all contributions testified to the end of the monocultural society. Whole nations are on the move; people are having to flee and start a new life in a foreign land. Wars, poverty or a yearning for faraway places drive them across frontiers, seldom voluntarily and often putting them in mortal danger. Human trafficking, racism, the fate of asylum-seekers, the problems of integration into another world that is indifferent or hostile towards them - these and similar issues were taken up in many programmes.

The participants - the categories

The aim of PRIX EUROPA is to discuss and publicise television and radio programmes and promote their distribution throughout Europe. It is not only a matter of encouraging quality; we also want to help of different nationalities to get to know each other, to grow closer together via TV and radio. This is why not only the programmes came to Berlin, but also the people who made them: directors, authors, producers, camerapeople, dramatists, programme buyers, television and radio bosses. They were able to choose between registering as observers or as voting delegates.

PRIX EUROPA 2000 was held in eight competition categories. In television, they were Fiction (84 entries), Non-Fiction (175), Current Affairs (72) and Iris (159). Radio also had four categories: Drama (49 entries), Documentary (42), Current Affairs (28) and Marketplace (32). Of this total of 641 nominations, 247 television and radio programmes were selected for the competition itself.

In the new Current Affairs category (TV and radio) the participants assessed up-to-date programmes that show why something happens and what consequences it has - delving more deeply beyond the headlines and the news. The focus here was on looking at the background, the incorruptible issue of a form of journalism that demands high standards and a sense of responsibility.

The new Iris category was looking for programmes that focus on the multicultural character of European societies and contribute to understanding and tolerance between people of different origins, cultures and religions. Television drama or film, comedy, reportage, documentations, magazine programmes or talk shows - all of these genres could enter.

The radio category Marketplace sought to encourage renewal. Here everything was allowed that was original, vital and communicative enough to win listeners for a higher quality of radio by new means.

The juries - the adjudication system

Not small, closed juries, but large, open adjudication groups selected the prize-winners after public discussion using a points system that judged programmes according to five different criteria. Any competition participant could become a juror by undertaking to view or listen to all the programmes in one of the categories and assess them by ballot paper. Observers were allowed and could join in discussions; they could not vote, however. Eight adjudication groups plus the Viewer's Jury of the Berlin Journalist's Association selected this year's prize-winners.

The prize-giving ceremony - alliance 2000

PRIX EUROPA's ceremonial finale is traditionally held in Potsdam-Babelsberg. This year, the venue for the Prize-Giving Ceremony on 21 October was the new Film and Television College. 14 prizes worth a total of 85,000 Euro in prize money were awarded at the competition's closing event.

One of the prizes, the PRIX EUROPA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, was presented by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Dr. Walter Schwimmer, to the Swedish documentary film "Muharem's Journey". Dr. Walter Schwimmer said he was particularly pleased to award the prize to this production, because its promoted one of the Council of Europe's central objectives: the protection of human rights and cultural diversity. This was "a source of richness that we must not lose".

PRIX EUROPA is the proud bearer of the title EUREKA AUDIOVISUELL. Under the patronage of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the competition has the backing of the following broad alliance of supporting and financing organisations:

Council of Europe Nederlandse Programma Stichting
European Commission Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg
European Parliament Sender Freies Berlin
European Cultural Foundation YLE Finnish Broadcasting Company
Land Berlin Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen
Land Brandenburg Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg
ARTE G.E.I.E Berlin Journalist's Association
DeutschlandRadio Press and Information Office of the Federal Government

SFB is the competition's organisational headquarters and permanent legal domicile.
Management: Susanne Hoffmann, Peter Leonhard Braun
Telephone:  + 49 30 3031 1610 (head office)
Fax:   + 49 30 3031 1619
Email:  [email protected]
Internet:  http://www.prix-europa.de