DR secured 12 out of 17 prizes awarded at ”TV Prisen” – the main Danish TV industry event.

The Danish "TV Prisen" was awared Friday 15th of March for creative achievements in 2023, in DR’s large concert hall.

The award was slightly downscaled this year to lower expenses for an industry feeling the pinch from fewer productions. The traditional dinner was cut, and the focus was on awarding prizes in all genres. Nevertheless, the two hosts, Jacob Riising and Signe Lindkvist, took a humourous approach to cost-cutting as the evening’s underlying theme, and the award show did its best to cut costs. There were alternative prizes for the audience, which included a 20 year old Fiat Panda, hosts reusing old costumes, and a true amateur band with industry people on stage.

As the evening progressed, the industry proved that television is not an endangered species yet, as all 17 winners and nominated shows bore witness to. DR's animated Karla's Fantalastic Class (Karlas Fantalastiske Klasse) for children, produced by Sparre Production for DR, won both Innovation of the Year and Best Children's and Young People's Programme. "Karla’s Fantalastic Class is public service at its very best. It is whimsical, contains great poetry, and it has a nice simplicity in its story,” the jury for “Innovation of the Year” stated.

TV Prisen awards two prizes for scripted content, both a short and a long form. Best fiction – Short went to Hooligan, produced by Drive Studios for P3 and DRTV.

In the category Best Fiction - Long series, the competitors were DR's Carmen Curlers, DR's Prisoner (Huset), Showgirls (Dansegarderoben) from TV 2, and The Nurse from Netflix. The Prison drama Prisoner with Sofie Gråbøl and David Dencik in the lead roles walked away with the prize. "DR was actually happy even before we started, and I think any insecure director can learn something from this: believing in the project even before you have shot even a centimetre," director Michael Noer said on stage.

The industry's traditional honorary award – The Otto – went to long-time TV producer and host, Kaare Sand, former owner of Sand TV, and producer and co-owner of Pipeline Production. He created programmes such as The Young Mothers (De unge mødre), Single Life (Singleliv), and Me About My Mum (Mig og min mor), and pushed the boundaries of the factual-reality genres. Taking the stage, Sand took the opportunity to address the entire TV industry. “I want to thank all my current and former employees, many of whom are experiencing difficult times, and some of whom have drifted into a different line of work. The job loss in our business has just begun. AI is already a factor, and it’s likely to lead to fewer available production jobs in the future,” Sand told the audience as he received his award on stage.

Amongst many innovative formats, TV 2's The Ballad of the Allotment Garden (Balladen om kolonihaven) stood out as the winner of Best Reportage Series. Produced by Kompagniet for TV 2 and TV 2 Play, the series was rich with atmosphere and whimsical characters that appear as authentic archetypes. "The team behind the reportage managed to elevate an initially small story into a much larger story about us Danes. A story we can all reflect on," the Jury said.