Prix- Europa, the prestigious festival for Television, Radio and Emerging Media invites the best productions from European Public Broadcasters to take part. The Prix Genève-Europe is awarded every year for the best TV fiction written by a new writer and produced or commissioned by a national broadcaster. The Prix Genève Europe* was created in 1987 by the European Alliance for Television and Culture (EATC), under the auspices of EBU.

This year, the prize went to Alix Delaporte for her script Fortunes, presented during the Prix Europa Award Ceremony in Berlin on Saturday 25 October. She received her award from the German film director Andreas Dresen who won a Prix Europa award in 1992.

The TV fiction, directed by Stéphane Meunier and produced by Terence Films in collaboration with EBU member ARTE France, was among the 13 entries submitted to an international jury of five fiction professionals that met in Berlin during the prestigious Prix Europa competition.
Fortunes is a social comedy which tells the story of French youths of various immigrant origins, a group of fast talking wheeler dealers on the streets in Paris – setting up businesses, looking for finance, working to make their fortune. A romance across the racial divide is thrown in and the result is a fast-paced comedy with serious undertones.
The jury considered that “the script speaks of racism and how the new generation refuse to be held back by it. It guides us through the world of these young businessmen showing us their wit and resilience. We know they will win through and defeat the prejudices of the society around them. The script deals with profound issues in a witty and entertaining way”. 

About the Prix Genève-Europe
The PGE awards were created by the European Alliance for Television and Culture (EATC), an alliance made up of EBU members (ARD, ERT, FT2, NPO, RTE, SSR-IdéeSuisse, TVE, and ZDF), the EBU and the City and Canton of Geneva. Set up in 1987 under the auspices of the EBU, whose membership includes every national public service broadcaster in Europe, the prizes aim to encourage new authors to work in television. The €6,000 prize goes to the scriptwriter of a television fiction that has been produced over the last year, and the jury members judge the script by screening the film.

EATC Bursaries: Writing bursary
Every year, EATC members can also choose a promising new scriptwriter who has written a fiction synopsis of any genre to receive a Writing Bursary consisting of CHF 5,000 and two scriptwriting workshops. Additional bursaries are also available for candidates proposed by other national broadcasters from Europe.
This year seven new scriptwriters from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland met in Berlin for their first session, led by Guy Meredith and Roger Gregory, experienced script editors and scriptwriting tutors. They were joined by one of the two winners of last year’s PGE prize, Arnaud Malherbe. The second workshop will take place in Geneva in January 2009.

Further information about Prix Genève Europe, joining EATC, or candidates for bursaries contact: Lynne Polak, Eurovision TV