CATALOGUE | WINNERS (Pdf) | AWARDS CEREMONY | FINALISTS | SHORTLIST: R · T · D | COMPETITION
Gerhard Hafner (ORF, Austria), Clémence Tuina (RTB, Burkina Faso), Caroline Jamet (CBC/SRC, Canada), Jesper Dein (DR, Denmark), Antti Karhumäki (YLE, Finland), Tanaka Takanobu (NHK, Japan), Vita Ličytė (LRT, Lithuania), Nevena Matović (RTS, Serbia).
The President: Jesper Dein (DR, Denmark).
To Catch a Scorpion
Direction: Sue Mitchell, Winifred Robinson, Joel Moors. Sound Track: Mom Tudie. Reporters: Sue Mitchell, Rob Lawrie. Production Year: 2024.
Scorpion is wanted by police across Europe. Very little is known about him, but he runs an organised crime gang responsible for smuggling thousands of migrants across the English Channel. Police almost caught him through covert surveillance but Scorpion got away. The series sees BBC Investigative Journalist Sue Mitchell and former British Solider Rob Lawrie succeed where the authorities can't – penetrate Scorpion's human trafficking network, find and confront him. Not only did we find him but two days later, the Iraqis arrested Barzan Majeed, the leader of the Scorpion migrant smuggling gang. When we tracked him down, he had been on the run for almost two years, attempts by the authorities in Belgium to secure the cooperation of the Iraqis had, up to that point, failed. Barzan Majeed's interview for this series, in which he admitted migrant smuggling on a grand scale, was the information the Iraqis needed to act.
Presented by: Sue Mitchell, Journalist, documentary maker
Sue Mitchell is a BBC journalist and documentary maker who specialises in investigating injustice and wrong doing. 'To Catch A Scorpion,' the recent series she made with aid worker and former British soldier, Rob Lawrie, resulted in the arrest of one of Europe's most wanted people smugglers. Sue and Rob have made a number of programmes on the plight of asylum seekers, including 'Girl Taken' and the Arias award winning series, 'The Smuggler's Trail.' Sue was the journalist behind last year's hit podcast, 'Million Dollar Lover', which was recorded in real time and explores issues of love, loss and intergenerational inequality. She is part of the BBC's Narrative Factual team and enjoys mentoring younger programme makers. Before joining the BBC, she was a newspaper journalist at the Yorkshire Post and in her spare time she loves open water swimming and coaching. |
The Jury: It is an impressive production - which demonstrates incredible courage, creative editing, undercover recordings and strong investigative journalism. Produced by a small team with a deep desire to bring justice to the victims, this documentary has had a great international impact by the arrest of the human trafficking leader the Scorpion himself. It is a unique and important story which demonstrates the power of the sound media. Furthermore, the 30-minute duration of each chapter/section is a great example of modern podcast documentary. We would also like to recognize the Ukranian production submitted this year which is a testament to the strength of the radio medium to document compelling stories and record invaluable testimony.
Kidnappet (Kidnapped)
Direction: Anne Pedersen, Jakob Rasmussen. Sound Design, Editing: Marie Kildebæk. Senior Producer, Editor: Jens Vithner. Consultant: Torben Brandt.
Through unique and original phone recordings, listeners are brought close to the intense dilemmas that arise when four adult children are entrusted with the responsibility of saving their father's life. They must negotiate with FARC through their father as a translator, because FARC's soldiers don't speak English. The experienced hostage negotiator, Jens Serup, assists the children throughout the entire process. He explains why it is crucial to negotiate firmly in order to ensure Niels's safe release. In the first episode, with the help of the professional hostage negotiator, the four siblings devise a strategy for negotiating their father's release. In the second episode, the captivity takes its toll on Niels, both physically and mentally. In the third, FARC insists that it must be a family member who brings the ransom and that the exchange must take place deep within their territory. In the last episode, with a backpack full of money and a drive too far into FARC's territory, the two agents must now try to get Niels released.
Presented by: Jakob Rasmussen, Writer and director
Jakob is a Danish journalist working at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR). He has worked with storytelling in both audio and television for more than 10 years, and mostly in investigative journalism for the past two years. He has covered refugee crisis, terrorism, cultural diversity, and borderless crime - always on a look out to tell stories in new ways to engage the audience. At the moment he is part of building up an investigative podcast union focusing on the young audience. |
Noahs nya pappor (Noah's New Dads)
Authors: Miranda Wretman, Lydia Bandolin Sörlin. Direction: Anna Frey. Narrating Voice: Miranda Wretman. Editing: Anna Frey, Tor Sigvardson. Production Year: 2023.
As a 13-year-old boy, Noah is forced to flee his home, family and country: Afghanistan. After a long and difficult journey, he ends up in Sweden as an unaccompanied refugee in 2015. Here he is placed in the home of the couple Gert and Lasse. Noah has never heard about homosexuality before, and it goes against his religion, Islam. But with his two new dads, Noah starts a new life. Having started out illiterate, he has now begun studying at the university: politics, philosophy and economics. He has friends, goes to the gym and reads thick books on Kant and Socrates. But the thoughts of the mother who once abandoned him won't leave him. He wants to meet her one last time.
Presented by: Anna Frey, Documentary producer and director
Anna has worked as a radio reporter and producer for the last 14 years. The past 2 years she has been a permanent producer of the documentary department at The Swedish Public Service Company Sveriges Radio, where she has produced documentaries in categories ranging from human interest stories to investigative journalism. Anna is passionate about audio storytelling and very engaged in networking with upcoming documentary makers. Besides her work as producer, she is one of the organizers of the Radio section of the Swedish documentary festival Tempo, where established and upcoming documentary makers can meet. The nominated documentary Noah's new dads came out of one of these projects and resulted in a portrait of some of our biggest existential questions: the right to choose your own context, family and path forward in life. |