Virtual PRIX JEUNESSE INTERNATIONAL
The Children’s TV World Meets Digitally
Every two years children’s TV makers from around the world get together in Munich at PRIX JEUNESSE INTERNATIONAL to award the best children’s and youth programmes and to discuss what makes excellence in children’s television. Founded in 1964, PRIX JEUNESSE is the oldest children’s TV festival worldwide. Because of the Corona pandemic, for the very first time in its history the festival can’t take place in its usual format. The festival’s organizers have decided to set up a virtual festival edition. From 5 – 11 June 2020, over 1000 children’s media experts from 95 countries will “meet” on a digital platform and will stream and judge the best children’s programmes of the past two years online.
98 children’s programmes from 69 countries have reached the final round of the festival. Besides the main TV categories which split up into fiction and non-fiction and into age ranges, there is a prize for the best short format. UNICEF and UNESCO award special prizes, and there is a Gender Equity Prize for a programme that deals innovatively with gender roles.
The international festival delegates can watch the competition programmes on a streaming platform where they will comment and discuss with their peers. In virtual Q&A sessions the filmmakers will give insights into the making of their shows and will be available for questions from the delegates. The decisions who will be the winners will be taken by all festival delegates: They all can be “voters” and take part in the online judging on the finalists in competition.
The target audience of course has a voice as well: A German children’s jury as well as an international youth jury will award their own prizes. Both juries were also confronted with the challenge to do their screenings, the discussions with their jury colleagues and the judging digitally. And they managed this task in an impressive manner.
It has a long tradition that PRIX JEUNESSE offers practical oriented research knowledge to its participants. And this is also the case in this special festival edition: In March the festival decided to adapt its 2020 theme to the current situation: „Separated by Crisis; Together in Commitment to Children“. In two info sessions crucial questions connected to children’s media and the current crisis will be examined and discussed.
The digital festival edition will also have its glamorous moments: In a virtual award ceremony on 11th June the PRIX JEUNESSE prize trophies will be given to the best children’s and youth programmes of the last two years. The show will be made available via livestream, accessible on the PRIX JEUNESSE website www.prixjeunesse.de. To win a PRIX JEUNESSE counts as one of the highest honours in children’s media.