The 39th annual Prix Bohemia Radio Festival begins today!
Today, Czech Radio launched the 39th edition of the Prix Bohemia Radio international festival in Olomouc, which will present the best of radio production from the past year.
From Monday 16 October to Thursday 19 October 2023, this unique event will offer visitors and radio professionals the opportunity to listen to the best in radio and audio across four categories: Documentary, News Report, Drama and Podcast. The four-day listening program will once again be accompanied by a varied events programme.
On the premises of Palacký University in Olomouc, 6 finalist works in the Documentary category will be presented on Monday, 4 Czech and 10 foreign news reports will compete on Tuesday, 5 finalist pieces in the Drama section will be featured on Wednesday and 10 podcasts will be presented on Thursday.
"The 39th edition of Prix Bohemia Radio is marked by exceptionally high-quality works, so the expert juries definitely have their work cut out for them. I am delighted that the independent student jury will once again join the festival at Palacký University in Olomouc and decide on the winners of the Student Prizes in all four categories. I wish all the contestants good luck and all the festival visitors an unforgettable experience," said René Zavoral, Director General of Czech Radio.
The opening ceremony of the 39th Prix Bohemia Radio will take place on Monday at the headquarters of Czech Radio Olomouc. During the evening, the Director General of Czech Radio René Zavoral will induct another prominent personality of radio history into the Hall of Fame and the President of the Actors' Association Ondřej Kepka will present the Thalia Award for the best radio play performance. The opening ceremony will be broadcast by stations Czech Radio Dvojka and Czech Radio Olomouc.
In addition to the listening program for all categories, a rich accompanying programme is waiting to delight visitors. On Monday, 16 October at 4 p.m., reporters from Czech Radio Radiožurnál Sport Petr Kadeřábek, František Kuna and Tomáš Minarčík will explain what the work of a sports radio reporter entails in the Chapel of the Corpus Christi in the Art Centre of UPOL. Visitors will also have a unique opportunity to try out their work.
On the second day of the festival, theatre lovers can look forward to a performance of The Last of the Soviets. A tragicomic probe into the Russian soul, based on the Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich's book Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets, will be staged at the Moravian Theatre Olomouc from 7 pm by Prague's theatre group from Divadlo v Dlouhé.
On the third day of the festival, a debate with experts in the field of audio-documentaries on the topic of “Documentaries in the podcast era” will take place at the headquarters of Czech Radio Olomouc from 5 pm. Participants will learn what topics are most compelling for the public, how to target listeners or how to promote and distribute content.
The last day of the festival will be brought to life by Czech Radio’s station for kids Radio Junior with a programme for the festival’s youngest visitors. In Laudon Hall (Pevnost poznání) from 9.15 to 10.00 am, kids can look forward to radio fun directed by the presenters of Morning ReStart, Jirka Kohout and Petr Ševčík, who will entertain little radio fans with competitions, musical quizzes, songs, sound magic and fairy tale surprises.
During the closing ceremony of the 39th festival, the expert jury will announce the three best entries in each category. The programme of the gala evening will be broadcast live by Czech Radio Vltava and Czech Radio Olomouc.
