*December 31, 1931, † May 31 1985
Åke Blomström was the Head of the Features Department at Swedish Radio for many years. In this capacity, he was a great mentor and supporter of young programme makers.
He was a remarkable personality, a master of irony, an author of children's programs and a forerunner of investigative reporting. He educated many young creators, made Swedish radio documentary stand at the highest level of professionalism and entered the canon of European radio art.
After his untimely death, it therefore seemed obvious to his friends and colleagues within the international features community that the way to honour his memory was through the establishment of an award named after him intended for young reporters. The recipients of the scholarship were able to attend the International Feature Conference at the expense of Swedish Radio. The establishment of the scholarship was initiated by Peter Leonhard Braun, the long-time head of Berlin Radio's (RBB) art documentary department and a friend of Åke.
History of the Åke Blomström Award
Over time, the financial responsibilities of participating in the IFC were divided among the four Scandinavian radio stations, and the scholarship was extended under the auspices of the European Broadcasting Union. The purpose of the scholarship was that a young author, right at the beginning of his/her career, gets to know the works of the best producers. A trip to the conference was always a big event for beginning radio artists, whose ears were opened to completely different sonic spaces within a few days. They got inspired and officially accepted into the family of audio creators.
In parallel, at the turn of the century, the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) established the EBU Master School on Radio Features. This initiative was the brainchild of Edwin Brys, longtime head of the documentary and radio drama department at Flemish Radio Belgium (VRT). During the two-year training course, which took place on the basis of regular live and online meetings, the young audio student worked on his own documentary under the guidance of his mentor/master. He/She also participated in workshops, learning all aspects of working on an audio documentary, with a special emphasis on storytelling and the use of radio as artistic expression. There were 6 training editions, with about ten participants each year.
After the end of the EBU Master School in 2013 the Åke Blomström Award became the Åke Blomström Award Training, a program funded now by 13 European radio stations. The three scholarship recipients were assured participation in the IFC and the Prix Europa Festival, as well as training workshops led by top radio writers. Each participant had the opportunity to work with a coach on their own documentary. Many of the works produced as part of the EBU Master School and Åke Blomström Award Training have won the highest radio laurels of the Prix Europa and Prix Italia.
In 2022, the formula has once again changed. After program coordinator Edwin Brys retired, Chairman Tim Desmond and Susanne Hoffmann, Director of Prix Europa, developed the new model for the Åke Blomström Masterclass. They wanted to give more than just three scholarship holders the chance to participate.
Ten awardees from all over Europe were to come together at the start of the Prix Europa to discuss their feature projects and receive tips from four experienced feature makers, who were to talk about how they produced their award-winning masterpieces.
Since 2023 the chairman of the project is Wolfgang Schiller, Deutschlandfunk, and its content coordinator is Agnieszka Czyzewska Jacquemet, Polish Radio Lublin. Like all their predecessors both are involved in the program on a volunteer basis.