The World of Children’s Television Meets at PRIX JEUNESSE INTERNATIONAL 2022
Founded back in 1964 by Bayerischer Rundfunk, the PRIX JEUNESSE INTERNATIONAL is the oldest and most renowned festival for children’s and youth TV programmes worldwide. Every two years, approximately 500 children’s media experts from all parts of the world come together at the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation to discuss quality in children’s television and to award the best and most innovative content.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival 2020 was a purely virtual event. For PRIX JEUNESSE INTERNATIONAL 2022 (10 – 15 June), the organizers plan to offer a slim version of the on-site event, as well as online-access to a VoD platform that will hold all programmes in competition. The final decision on an on-site event will be taken in April 2022.
400 children’s programmes were submitted to the 2022 festival. 97 shows were selected by an international preselection jury to compete in the final festival round. The UK, the Netherlands and Norway are present in the finals with the highest number of entries. But it is exciting to also see countries represented in the final round from where we haven’t seen programmes at PRIX JEUNESSE often, for example Haiti, Montenegro or the Philippines. In regard to thematic tendencies, several programmes in the finals deal with topics such as war, climate or racism – challenging topics that are dominant in public discourse in many societies at the moment and now also found their way into children’s television. A touching example that thematizes war is “Dounia” from Télé-Québec, Canada, a story of a little girl forced to leave her home because of war. NRK Norway is in the finals with an interesting example of how to address the issue of climate change for a young audience. The series “Don’t do this to the climate” explains the connection between small things we all do in our everyday lives and how it affects the global climate. An interesting way of dealing with the challenging topic of racism for a young audience is the sketch-comedy “Hang On” from KiKA, Germany, a series that demonstrates in a funny way how senseless racism is.
The 97 finalist programmes compete in six main categories, divided according to the age of the target audience as well as fictional and non-fictional formats. In addition to the main categories, there is also an award for the best short format, and a “Gender Equity Prize”for a program that deals with gender roles in an innovative way. UNICEF and UNESCO also award special prizes. And of course, the target audience has a voice as well. The categories 7-10 Fiction and Non-Fiction are judged by a German Children’s Jury, and the categories 11-15 Fiction and Non-Fiction by an International Youth Jury.
The theme of the 2022 festival is: “Listen to Kids TV: The Power of Sound”. Info sessions will deal with the question of what makes good sound and music in children’s TV and how the right tone can be found when conveying difficult topics such as war or death.
But what makes PRIX JEUNESSE so special? The PRIX JEUNESSE festival is much more than just a festival. It not only provides insights into exciting, enriching and high-quality children’s television programmes, but also offers the opportunity to meet colleagues from all over the world and get valuable impulses for your own work. In addition, no jury advises or judges the finalists behind closed doors. Instead, every accredited attendee is invited to participate in voting for the winning programs. This special element makes participation in PRIX JEUNESSE much more than “just” attending the festival, but a unique platform for everyone who cares about good children’s television.