Danish writer Ingeborg Topsøe wins the Script Award for the series Secrets We Keep, and the Creative Courage Award goes to the Swedish series Blood Cruise.

The winners of the Nordic Series Awards, presented by Nordisk Film & TV Fond (NFTVF) were announced at an award ceremony during Göteborg Film Festival’s TV Drama Vision. The Nordic Series Script Award, previously known as the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize, honours exceptional writing in Nordic drama. Ingeborg Topsøe, the writer of Secrets We Keep (Reservatet), is the recipient of the 2026 Script Award, with a prize sum of NOK 200,000 to the writer, funded by NFTVF. Topsøe was touched when receiving the award:

"Those of us who originate new ideas and original stories, we inevitably have to invest our time in those ideas while they are shapeless and vague. This money actually means that I can do that with new ideas, because ideas don’t pop up as a two-pager or a short pitch. Having that time makes a difference and I’m going to invest the money intelligently in new storytelling. So thank you."

Jury statement:

“This year’s winner asks the questions: Can intimacy be outsourced? How far are you - as a single individual - willing to go to maintain your position in life? At what cost do you uphold existing power dynamics, both in your private sphere and on a global scale?

By confronting us with the harsh realities of human existence - without smothering the audience in numbing escapism - the winner shows that it is possible to combine a compelling, nail-biting whodunit thriller with a strong social commentary.”

This year’s jury for the Nordic Series Script Award was comprised of: Agnes Kittelsen, Actor, Norway; Nanna Frank Rasmussen, Journalist, Film and TV Reviewer, Denmark; Henning Kamm, Executive Producer and Managing Director, REAL FILM Berlin, Germany.

The Creative Courage Award winner was selected by Liselott Forsman, CEO of Nordisk Film & TV Fond, and Cia Edström, Head of TV Drama Vision, Göteborg Film Festival.

The proposals for winners of the Creative Courage came from all the Nordic broadcasters, who also needed to motivate why their series showed creative courage. The motivations varied from series dealing with sensitive themes or engaging new talents to series that were shot in dangerous arenas or tested new technologies.

In the motivation speech, Forsman said:

“With so many variations, we went back to why we founded this prize. It was: To honour those who dare to take risks for new directions in Nordic drama.

During Nordisk Film & TV Fond’s 2022 theme year “20-something”, we asked young professionals: ‘What is lacking in the Nordic industry?’ Many upcoming filmmakers, especially from Sweden, said it would be vital to get other than realistic series commissioned, pointing out the lack of Nordic genre series.”

Edström continued:

“This has now changed. Among the Nordic countries, Sweden is suddenly the forerunner here. Tonight we want to honour the commissioner(s) and producer(s) who dared to make this extraordinary horror series come to life, by combining a family story with a Sweden in a microcosmos with multiplying vampires on a ferry.”

The Creative Courage Award went to the Swedish series Blood Cruise (Färjan), produced by Alexander Rönnberg (Northern Fable) and Will Tennant (Imaginarium Productions), and commissioned by Johanna Gårdare and Sonja Nilsson Hermele from SVT. This honorary mention is designed to recognise individuals and companies who dare to take risks and champion new directions in Nordic drama.

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