30th Jubilee Anniversary of Prix Bohemia Radio for the First Time in Prague
The 30th jubilee anniversary of the Prix Bohemia 2013 International Radio Festival was recently held in Prague. In the presence of radio microphones and TV cameras, the festival was launched on 4 November in the Smetana Hall of the Municipal House with a gala concert of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. The closing ceremony with the announcement of the winners took place on 7 November in Studio S1 on Vinohradská Avenue. This year, the festival awarded prizes in five categories, together with the Jiří Ješ Prize and the Karel Kyncl Prize. At the opening ceremony, several prominent figures were inducted into the “Czech Radio Hall of Glory” by the Director General of Czech Radio, Peter Duhan.
This year, the Prix Bohemia International Radio Festival took place for the first time in Prague. The competition section of the festival had its official presentation at a gala ceremony in the Municipal House that topped off the celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the start of radio broadcasting. The audience in the crowded Smetana Hall could hear a concert of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra with the soloists Jan Simon on the piano and Jitka Hosprová on the viola. Czech Radio’s Director General, Peter Duhan, inducted Lucie Výborná, Jan Pokorný and the radio legends Karel Malina and Karel Tejkal into the Hall of Glory. The Karel Kyncl Prize went to the foreign political reporter Ondřej Houska, and the Jiří Ješ Prize for the best commentary was awarded to Petr Příhoda. Peter Duhan also presented certificates of thanks to five of the most generous contributors to the radio’s charity project Help with Us for flood victims.
Four public competition categories were announced this year – Documentary, Drama, Music Programme and Self-promotion. The Documentary category is dedicated to Czech and foreign radio programmes, including a presentation of an international award. The three remaining categories are open to Czech and Slovak programmes. At the same time, Czech Radio organized an in-house competition of the News and Current Affairs Department for the best news report.
The jury was composed not only of the personalities of the Czech media and music arena, but also representatives of foreign media, such as Ray Furlong, a presenter and journalist at BBC, Edwin Brys from Belgian VRT or Ulf Köhler, the head of the documentary department at German MDR.
From 8:00 p.m. on 5 November, fans of Radio Wave could visit the S1 radio studio to hear a concert of the Czech electroacoustic project Floex, British composer Poppy Ackroyd and John Lemke. On the same evening, the Trade Fair Palace hosted a concert of Ars Acustica held as part of the EBU Euroradio Concert Season.
On the following day, the winners of the Concerto Bohemia radio contest of student music ensembles had their concert at Žofín, again in the presence of TV cameras and broadcast live on CRo Vltava. It also featured a performance by the competition’s absolute winner, the Prague Conservatory Brass Ensemble, conducted by Jiří Šedivý.
The final gala concert took place on 7 November and in addition to the winners of festival categories, the Radio Thalia award for the best radio performance, selected by the Czech Actors’ Association, was announced. From a total of 136 nominees, the international Documentary category was won by the French radio documentary entitled Soeurs de Camp by Charlotte Rouault and Benoit Bories. The best national Drama went to an adaptation of Nemesis by Jo Nesbø, directed by Aleš Vrzák and translated by Kateřina Krištůfková. A programme entitled A Word about Music – Grieg’s Bergen by Petr Veber was awarded as the best Music Programme. The Self-promotion category was won by the Morning Show – Dubbing by Europe 2 written by author Karel Kučera. Child Abuse by Polish Priests by the Czech Radio’s Polish reporter Petr Vavrouška is the winner in the category of News Report. The Thalia award by the Czech Actors’ Association went to Taťjana Medvecká for her radio play performance.
Prizes were presented to the winners by Czech Radio’s Director General, Peter Duhan, and the director of the Prix Bohemia Radio, Jan Simon.
MSc. Zora Karmazín Blümlová
Communications and External Relations Director
Czech Radio
Phone: +420 221 551 310