Irish format scoops Eurovision prize

An Irish TV show has been chosen as the winner of a formats award at the annual Eurovision Creative Days forum here in Berlin.

Whose Holiday is it Anyhow?, from Dublin-based Coco Television for Irish pubcaster RTE1, took top prize at the Three Best Formats competition following a vote by TV execs.

The Sunday night series targets general audiences and sees teens take over the responsibility of planning their family’s annual holiday, controlling everything from its location to packing their parents’ suitcases.

More than 50 submission from active and associate members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) were rated by forum participants from a shortlist of 22 formats selected by members of the Eurovision Formats Core Group.

To qualify, formats had to have aired in the country of origin during the previous 12 months.

The other two winners of the prize were Secret Lives of Teens/Students, from Raw TV for the UK’s Channel 4, which follows students as they share their digital lives using texts, picture messages, calls and web searches; and VRT Belgium’s Work it Out, presented by Koen Lievens, editor in chief of Belgian prodco Alaska TV.

For the first time, this year’s forum saw members screen formats in development and pitch ideas in a Dragon’s Den-style to commissioning editors.

Formats awarded grants by the Eurovision TV Development Fund included The High Note, a competitive reality series from Danish pubcaster DR; Total Recallers, a family gameshow from RTE in Ireland; and MFP France’s multimedia show The new Comic Talent.

Earlier in the week, Lovemilla, from Finnish pubcaster YLE and It’s Alive Productions, was the overwhelming winner of the Eurovision Create Formats prize.