The winners of this year's ABU prizes were announced Tuesday, November 7, at an awards ceremony held in Beijing, China. Three NHK programmes won an ABU prize for best programme this year in the categories of TV drama, TV news and Radio Drama.

The ABU prizes were established in 1964 to promote the production of radio and television programs of a high standard in order to raise educational and cultural levels and to strengthen understanding among the peoples of the ABU member countries and regions. This year, 211 entries (147 television programs and 64 radio programs) from 59 organizations were submitted. 

NHK's winning programmes

ABU prize for TV drama: The Ice Wall
Episode 2: A Mortal Challenge (58 min.)

Synopsis:The Ice Wall is a six-part dramatization of a bestselling 1956 mountaineering novel by Yasushi Inoue. Transposing the action to the present day and using overseas locations and stunning computer graphics for a grand sense of scale, it tells a story about friendship between two climbers who attempt an ascent of K2 without oxygen. 

ABU prize for TV news: Dying Alone (52 min.)

Synopsis: Recently, apartment complexes all across Japan have witnessed a spate of “solitary deaths.” The Tokiwadaira Housing Complex, built 45 years ago on the northeastern outskirts of Tokyo, was Japan’s first large-scale public housing project. Over a recent three-year period, 21 “solitary deaths” occurred on the premises. Almost all were men, and most were relatively young, between the ages of 40 and 60. Circumstances varied, but generally these men had lost their jobs, their families, their health. Alone and lonely, they had cut all ties to society. Even their deaths went unnoticed for as long as three months. Appalled, the residents of Tokiwadaira have established a volunteering counseling center to reach out to single residents. 

ABU prize for radio drama: Haru’s Diary (50 min.)

Synopsis: This drama looks at the problems of aging and at the way a mother and her daughter come to understand each other. The mother, Haru, is initially confident and dynamic, but she goes downhill with the onset of dementia. Her daughter, Shizuko, is nearly 50. She has long struggled in vain to win her mother’s acceptance as a capable adult, at times enduring painful comments from her mother.One day, Shizuko reads a diary in which Haru has described her anxieties, and she finally starts to understand.

Click here for NHK's press release.

Please note, photos are copyright of NHK.