Five German, American stories picked as RIAS Media Prize winners in 2022
The RIAS Berlin Commission announced the winners of this year’s RIAS Media Prize Awards on Monday, March 7, 2022. The 30th annual award is presented by the German-American exchange program and celebrates the best of transatlantic broadcast journalism with up to 10,000 EUR in prize-money awarded.
The jury, made up of five distinguished journalists from the United States and Germany, selected five winners from the TV, Radio and Digital Media category entries submitted from across the United States and Germany on March 5, 2022. The German-American jury comprised: Co-chair Michael Gargiulo (WNBC TV, New York), Co-chair Anja Heyde (ZDF/MDR, Berlin/Magdeburg), as well as Helge Fuhst (ARD, Hamburg), Yami Virgin (Fox 29, San Antonio, Texas), Christian Wilp (NTV/RTL, Berlin).
Conditions allowing, RIAS Berlin Commission will host a gala ceremony on June 2, 2022 in Berlin to pay tribute to the winners from the 2022 competition as well as the 2020 and 2021 contests that were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The RIAS Berlin Commission, created after the legendary Radio in American Sector (RIAS) broadcaster went off the air in 1993, has been operating exchange programs for more than 1,900 German and American broadcast journalists since 1993 with the aim of promoting transatlantic understanding in journalism and keeping alive the spirit of the Cold War-era radio and TV broadcasting network.
This year’s prize winners are:
Grand Prize – Jan Philipp Burgard: “Leben und Sterben am 11. September – eine Familie Geschichte“ (WeltTV), September 4, 2021
RIAS TV Award – Sigrid Faltin & Team: “Ein Hauch von Amerika – Dokumentation“ (ARD), December 1, 2021
RIAS Radio Award – Thomas Reintjes, Matthias Röckl: “Fear of Losing New York – Auf der Suche nach einer verschwundenen Stadt“ (Deutschlandfunk), March 16, 2021
RIAS Digital Media Award – Katrin Bennhold, Clare Toeniskoetter: “Day X“ , five-part podcast series on The Daily (The New York Times), May 28-June 24, 2021
RIAS Fellow Award – Vladimir Balzer: “New York ist zurück – eine Stadt befreit sich aus der Pandemie“, (Deutschlandfunk), November 8, 2021
Special Jury Prize:
Ines Pohl: Deutsche Welle, special commendation for outstanding transatlantic interview with George W. Bush, Deutsche Welle, July 14, 2021
