The countdown is on to one of the most prestigious TV programming award events of 2014. The Rose d’Or awards are now in their 53rd year and will be held in Berlin on 17 September.

The awards, operated by the EBU, celebrate the best in international entertainment programming. This year there are nominees from 12 different countries in 9 categories across both television and, for the first time, radio.

The United Kingdom leads the field with 8 nominations. Israel have 3 and Germany 2. Programmes from Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Belgium, Portugal, Australia. Hungary, Sweden and The Netherlands are also recognised.

Among the 2014 finalists are a controversial German TV experiment encouraging six singles to marry a complete stranger, a British game show where contestants compete to score the fewest points as possible and a Belgian comedy show in which a celebrity gets the unique chance to attend their own funeral.

There is also a Portuguese series that aims to make classical music more accessible to a broader audience, a new animated interpretation of Prokofiev's Peter and The Wolf from France and a British exploration inside the mind of Leonardo Da Vinci.

2014 also sees the debut of awards for Online programmes with nominees to be announced in the coming weeks.

Unlike other industry awards, a workshop run by successful television, film and radio creatives and producers, will also be held ahead of the prize-giving,

The winners will be announced at an evening celebration to be held at the Hotel Adlon Kempinski in Berlin, on 17 September.

More news about the nominees can be found on the Rose d'Or site.