EuroPAWS, in conjunction with its project partners Euroscience and Agtel, is pleased to announce that its 2012 European Science TV and New Media Festival will take place as part of the big European Science congress ESOF in Dublin in July 2012. The Festival is planned for the three days 13 to 15 July.

The Call for Programmes started on the 3rd January 2012 and can be found here.

 

The Festival

In 2012, the European Science TV and New Media Festival will take place as part of the big Euroscience congress, the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF), in Dublin. The aim of the 3-day festival is to promote the value of science and technology in TV and New Media Programming and the variety of ways in which it can be successfully presented across Europe. This project is being run jointly by Euroscience which has a Europe-wide remit to bring science and technology to a wide public, EuroPAWS at OMNI Communications which has expanded the agenda of its science TV festival to reach the full festival and awards it is today and Agtel, the renowned Dublin based TV and New Media production company.

Festival Content

There will be screenings of the best productions from across Europe in all TV and New Media genres involving science and technology.
Four genre based prizes will be awarded; for TV Documentaries, TV Drama and TV General programming (including Current Affairs and Entertainment formats) and New Media Productions, plus four special “Science in Society” TV/New Media Awards: for the best presentation of science within an environment issue, the best presentation of or by a woman scientist/engineer, the best TV documentary judged by a teenage jury, and the best production as judged by the theatre audience.

An international jury from the different science and media professions will award the prizes, with special juries for some of the Science in Society prizes.

There will also be talks and discussion sessions bringing together the various professionals from science and the media and the general public. Some of the key themes relating to the presentation of science in the various audio-visual media will be debated, with a chance for the audience to engage the experts with their own concerns. The Festival being part of ESOF, a large variety of scientists, engineers and other professionals interested in science communication will be present.

The Relevance of this Festival

Why is such a festival important? We offer three principal reasons:
a) Many people gain their images of modern science and technology from the audio-visual media – television, the web, ipod etc. The powerful imagery in these media offers the chance for people from all areas of society to gain a foothold in understanding the challenging issues of the modern world, and make science exciting and relevant.
b) A Festival gives the opportunity of promoting the best programmes/productions from across Europe, thus inspiring other writers, producers and broadcasters to fresh creativity in presenting science and engaging new TV and new media genres
c) The agenda of such a festival brings together many interested professions, from the media, science/technology in pure research and industry, and politics in a unique forum where ideas can be exchanged. The combination of a good meeting forum (with keynote talks from top practitioners and round tables and networking venues) plus examples of the best TV/AV communication can play a significant role in shaping future actions.

The long term aim is to create a high profile event equivalent to, say, the Cannes Film Festival in its own domain. The 2010 Awards which was held in conjunction with the BBC year of Science is an illustration and demonstrator. It attracted about 300 people from many professions.

Background and Rationale

TV and Audio-visual media generally offer a unique way of engaging people in the world of science and technology. They provide imagery to aid the understanding of sometimes challenging concepts, and productions can usually be appreciated at different levels – in other words one can satisfy a broad range of viewers. Such programmes also provide a shop window on science and technology for prospective students, and on issues linked to scientific or engineering advances. One can also reach people at a human level, notably in well crafted TV drama which people are used to watching as entertainment but which can bring science in on the back of human endeavors or rivalries. TV and New media also provide role models to attract new recruits to these disciplines.

EuroPAWS was created in 2001 to take an agenda pioneered in the UK by OMNI Communications to a European level. Supported by a succession of EC grants, it started with a European TV Drama Festival and Awards, and support for new drama ideas for TV writers. Having drawn some acclaim in what is of course a niche area, the remit was steadily expanded until in 2010 the full festival and awards format was established, to reflect the full variety of science productions and programming. Euroscience joined this agenda early on, and in 2010 brought its expertise in organising ESOF to help fashion the current Festival. The next step was to seek the larger and more diverse audience offered by associating with a big science communication event, and ESOF 2012 was the natural choice. Agtel joined the organising group as a leading Dublin based TV and New Media Production Company, helping to ensure the best local participation in the Festival.