Gera (dpa/th) – 692 boys and girls want to be members of the jury at this year’s children’s media festival “Golden Spatz”. 34 jury children between the ages of 9 and 13 will be selected, as the German Children’s Media Foundation “Goldener Spatz” announced on Saturday in Erfurt. 29 young film fans are needed for the Kino-TV children’s jury and five media critics between the ages of 10 and 12 for the digital children’s jury. Now it’s the selection committee’s turn: they have to read the applications and put together the jury.
The festival will take place from June 4th to 10th, 2023 in Gera and Erfurt. During this time, the jury children should view and test the entire competition program – and in the end decide together which entry can take home the main prize, the Golden Sparrow. The award ceremony will take place on June 9, 2023 in Erfurt.
According to the Children’s Media Foundation, children from Germany, Austria, South Tyrol, Switzerland, the German-speaking community in Belgium, the Principality of Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the German minority in Denmark and, for the first time, from Romania will be invited to the jury this year. Most applications from Germany came from North Rhine-Westphalia (101), followed by Bavaria with 66 applications and Thuringia with 63. From German-speaking countries, most applications came from Belgium (16).
To apply for a place on the children’s jury, a film or media review had to be written. According to the information, 310 films were rated this year. Accordingly, the children would have dealt with films such as “The School of Magical Animals”, “The Three ??? – Legacy of the Dragon” or classics such as “The Little Lord”. For the digital competition, reviews were submitted, for example, via platforms such as YouTube and TikTok or online games such as Minecraft and Brawl Stars.
The history of the festival goes back to the GDR era. It was held every two years from 1979, but is now held annually. The festival is considered the largest of its kind in Germany.
