The theme of this Gand Prix was « Memory ».
the competition gathered 55 programmes from 40 organizations representing 30 countries from the 5 continents.
The prize giving ceremony will take place on Monday, December 8 2008 at 7 p.m, at Maison de Radio France.
The jury awarded 3 Prizes and 1 special Award:
URTI Grand Prix 2008: Live memory, presented by Radio Clapas (France)
A programme conceived by a group of young people, produced by Jean-Jacques Chauchard,
Nine teenagers in care of the Protection Judiciaire de la Jeunesse (PJJ) give a testimony on their uneven course and have exchanges with several interlocutors on memory, associating personal memories and curiosity about the world around them. The jury paid tribute to an original programme, carried by a sincerity, an optimism, an imagination and a freshness which do not rule out a condensed and deep vision of the subject. The production of the programme subtly renders the diversity of approaches and experiences.
Silver Medal: The night of June 18 1951, presented by SRR (Romania)
A programme by Andrei Popov
For the first time, a little-known episode in the recent history of Romania is the subject of a radio programme: the deportation, in a single night of June 1951, of the population living along the frontier with Tito’s Yugoslavia. The jury emphasized the quality of a programme which, with its precise documentation and a victim’s previously unheard testimony, lends credibility to the radio documentary. An essential memory duty.
Bronze Medal: Between women friends, presented by CBC-SRC (Canada)
A programme by Neil Sandell
A Canadian journalist’s heartbreaking testimony. Jody Porter built her identity on a terrible unspoken event, on the memory of a rape. She recalls today this secret tragedy that she can share with her family at last. The jury was particularly moved by this story, told with remarkable courage and determination.
Special Award: Death rather than the Cayenne penal colony, presented by ENRS (Algeria) A programme by Hamid Bousbaci
The uncommon testimony of a survivor of the Cayenne penal colony, put into perspective by extracts from texts by Albert Londres. Where we learn that this penal colony was also the destination of Algerian convicts. The jury insisted on paying tribute to the documentary and radio wealth of a programme in Kabyle, which accurately renders a dramatic reality, sound surroundings, and an atmosphere.
URTI regroups more than 50 radios and televisions, with the remit to promote cultures of the world in their audiovisual expressions. It forms a bank of reference programmes, runs radio creation workshops and organizes the International Radio Grand Prix and the TV Documentary Grand Prix each year.