THE 10th PRIX CIRCOM REGIONAL

The Prix Circom Reigonal started nearly ten years ago, in 1990. at the Circom Regional conference in Bled, Slovenia. A year before, at the conference in Ofir, Portugal, an improvised prize was already handed out to a programme from RTP Azores. So, the conference at Cavtat/Dubrovnik in 1999 will host the 10th anniversary of the only European-wide competition for regional television programmes.

Circom Regional is able to hand out valuable prizes in four categories. The major prize will be the Grand Prix Circom Regional 1999 for regional documentary programme with an additional special prize sponsored by France 3. Europe Matters is called another prize sponsored by the European Parliament. And additional prizes for programmes dealing with Cross Border matters and New Technologies are financed by the directorates general XVI and XIII of the European Commission. The total value of the prizes will exceed 50,000 Euro.

The jury session takes place at Paterswolde near Groningen, Netherlands, on invitation of TV Noord. The twelve judges will screen and discuss all programmes entered into the competition. As usual, they focus their judgement on some common values in journalism: Telling the story by protagonists, images and natural sound instead ofŐtelling the viewer what to thinkŐ, clear choice and thorough investigation of the topic, the quality of direction, camera and picture editing, the meaningful use of music and unforced use of visual devices. Usually these values are more important for the judges than the impact matter of the subject.

The prize-giving itself is proposed for the first night of the annual conference in Cavtat, 2nd June 1999. The hosts will make it a feast for all participants of the conference and particularly for the winners of the 1999 competition. It will include a 10-year review of the prize-winning regional television productions, honorouring the winners of a decade of a regional European-wide competition.

I hope to meet you there for discussions with the winners and the judges.