DOK.digital – Award for New Narrative Formats

Sponsored by the Bavarian Regulatory Authority for New Media (BLM), endowed with 2,500 euros

What are contemporary forms for journalistic-factual or documentary content? How can the possibilities of new formats be used to inspire a demanding audience?

With the DOK.digital award, the DOK.forum is looking for answers to the question of how the further development of technical possibilities affects the narration of documentary or journalistic-factual content. The aim is to encourage the emergence of new innovative projects that combine various media formats and platforms with content in a meaningful way.

Journalists, filmmakers, games designers and producers from German-speaking countries are invited to submit their completed works.

The prize is endowed with 2,500 euros and will be awarded at the DOK.forum Perspectives.

Sumbission deadline: 1 February 2023

Submission for the DOK.digital Award is now closed.

 

What we are looking for

We are looking for outstanding projects that open up different perspectives through new narrative forms, actively involve the audience and bring stories to life. Projects that explore the possibilities of digital media and convey journalistic factual or documentary content beyond linear narrative.

 

Award Donor: Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien

 

Criteria for the submission

A project is eligible for selection for DOK.digital if the following requirements are met:

Submission by

  • Collective or individuals
  • Young talents with their first or second project

Production

  • Within the German-speaking area (DE/AT/IT/CH)
  • Production period from January 2022 to spring 2023

Content & formal approach

  • Relevant content with a documentary and/or journalistic approach
  • Digital format
  • Consistent linking of content and form
  • Potential for meaningful interaction with the audience

Further conditions

  • Possibility of presentation within the hybrid DOK.forum 2023: Preselected projects will be presented to the public in the presence of the jury. The award ceremony will take place as part of the DOK.forum at the 38th DOK.fest München. 
  • Willingness to actively contribute to the DOK.digital alumni network upon nomination

How to apply, submission documents and submission deadline

The submission is done via our website.

If you do not yet have a user account with us, please register here. If you already have an account, you can log in there at any time.
To submit via the online form, select the module "DOK.digital" under "Your account" after logging in. You can then use the button "Neues DOK.digital Projekt" (top right) to create a new project and start your submission.

The following documents are required and can be submitted via the DOK.fest München homepage:

  • Contact details of the submitter(s)
  • Link to view the project
  • Exposé / Project description
  • Objective of the project
  • CV of the submitter(s) / profile of the production company
  • Catalogue of works

Both completed and published projects can be submitted.
The prerequisite for DOK.digital registration is a meaningful application.
Submission is free of charge.

Submission Deadline: 1 February 2023

Submission for the DOK.digital Award is now closed.

 

Contact

Jonathan Bugiel
forum@dokfest-muenchen.de

DOK.fest München, Dachauer Straße 116, 80636 Munich, Germany
Phone: +49 177 82 20 238 

 

Review

Award winners 2022: SNEAKERJAGD by Benedikt Dietsch and Lorenz Jeric

SNEAKERJAGD

SNEAKERJAGD is a data-driven investigative research that takes the audience on a global cross-media report. What happens to our old sneakers after we dispose of them? The old sneakers of eleven celebrities were to bring special attention to the sneaker hunt. They became narrative threads, data providers and faces of the story. For this, we hid GPS transmitters in the soles of the shoes, disposed of them and tracked them for more than five months and many thousands of kilometres across the world.

Jury statement

"SNEAKERJAGD shows in an impressive way how journalism can implement a topic in an imaginative way and reach a broad community, bringing them closer to the very relevant topic of "fast fashion" in an entertaining way. In doing so, Lorenz Jeric and Benedikt Dietsch question green promises made by manufacturers through data and information that is accessible to everyone. Various channels are used for this: Print, film, podcast, newsletter and an interactive map on the web on which the signals from the GPS trackers in the shoes can be traced. The authors show that this is how journalism or digital storytelling can work and a current topic can be presented in an exciting way."

 

Award winners 2021: SAFESPACE by Whitney Bursch, Säli El Mohands, Rosa Fabry, Saphira Siegmund, Lea Wessels, Ariane Böhm, Elena Münker and Kim Neubauer

Jury statement

"A young editorial team creates content around the topics of mental and physical health and well-being for an even younger and hard-to-reach audience. The platform of choice is TikTok, where this audience is at home. The SAFESPACE team communicates authentically and at eye level, and the community's feedback is taken up directly and translated into new content. SAFESPACE indeed offers a protected space on a platform where very young users in particular feel at home and look for like-minded people. A platform that, like many other social media channels, is not always entirely innocent of problematic body images and insecurity due to the many perfectly staged images/videos and negative comments."

Jury 2021

Volker Bach (Head of MIZ Babelsberg and ALEX Berlin)
Prof. Dr. Lena Gieseke (Professor for Image-Oriented Media Technologies at the HFF Konrad Wolf)
Matthias Leitner (Freelance writer, digital storyteller and strategy designer)
Sabrina Scharpen (Lead Format Development HR New Media / ZDF)
Jutta Schirmacher (Media literacy and youth protection officer at BLM)