The Jubilee Festival

The 50th Rose d'Or Festival was held from 18 to 22 September 2010. The television world met at the Culture and Convention Centre KKL to witness the presentation of the prestigious Rose d'Or Awards. Among the guests were stars and celebrities such as Marie-Luise Marjan and Joris Gratwohl (Lindenstrasse), Janine Kunze (Caretaker Krause), Thomas Hermanns (Quatsch Comedy Club), Emil Steinberger, Stefan Gubser, Marco Rima, Pepe Lienhard, figures from media, business and politics.

The Awards Ceremony was incorporated into an exhilarating show celebrating the last 50 years of entertainment television - a journey through five decades of TV entertainment with
clips and guests from the programmes that changed the face of television from the 60's until today. The evening was hosted by the RTL presenter Nazan Eckes and Britain’s Ben Shephard. Famous stars and personalities such as DJ Bobo, Sandra Studer, Ursus & Nadeschkin, Gerhard Schröder, David Briggs and Dick de Rijk presented the awards.

In addition to programmes from Argentina, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, England, Norway, Spain, South Africa also won a Rose d’Or with La Bohème in the High-Rise, the operatic production for Schweizer Fernsehen. The Best of 2010 went to the Belgian comedy format Benidorm Bastards in which pensioners play pranks on the young people in the Spanish holiday paradise of Benidorm, populated mainly by Brits. The international Rose d’Or Jury said: «This programme is so much more than another candid-camera show. It is a Primetime ratings winner showing the older generation to be sassy, witty, creative contemporaries, and proves that humor knows no age limit».

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Rose d'Or, the festival committee created two special prizes, one to be awarded to a programme, and one to an individual that had significantly contributed to the history of television.

British series Coronation Street, also celebrating it’s 50th anniversary year, and Simon Cowell were the proud recipients of these Golden Jubilee Awards. Simon Cowell is an A&R executive, producer and star of the highest rated television shows in the world. His discerning eye for talent and his candid remarks have made him a household name, as viewers tune in to watch him in his role as judge on The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and American Idol. In 2002 he founded the UK-based media and entertainment production company Syco, which became a joint venture with Sony Music Entertainment in 2010. With Syco, Cowell was responsible for developing two of the biggest hit TV formats in the world, in the Got Talent and X Factor franchises. He is also the first producer to have the No. 1 programme in the UK and the US simultaneously as Britain’s Got Talent and America’s Got Talent bothtopped the television charts in 2008. Got Talent is Europe’s leading entertainment show and is now airing in over 40 countries.

Simon Cowell receives the 2010 Golden Jubilee Award for his services to television, both on and off camera.

The presentation of the 2010 Golden Roses brought the anniversary year to a successful close. The Rose d’Or Festival not only saw a record 515 programmes submitted to the competition, but by opening the live performance of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and the Comedy Night  to the public, as well as providing a public screening in Rail City, the Rose d’Or took a significant step in establishing the Festival as an event for the public as well as the industry.

From 1961 to present day

The Rose d’Or, international festival for entertainment television, was created in 1961 by Marcel Bezençon, then General Director Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG-SSR). Its aim was to help European public broadcasters to fill the gaps in their summer schedules with cost effective, good quality programmes. In 2004 the Festival moved from Lake Geneva to Lake Lucerne.

Marcel Bezençon’s idea was simple: Why not put together a really good international variety programme in Switzerland, then swap it for productions from other countries within the framework of a competition?

And so on 27^th May 1961 in Montreux, the BBC was awarded the first ever Golden Rose for the Black and White Minstrel Show.

Since the swinging sixties, the story of entertainment television can be read in the list of stars and shows presented with awards at the Rose d’Or. The Rose d’Or Festival gave the whole range of light entertainment international prominence - from circus performances to comedy specials, game shows to cartoons, opera to rock’n’roll.

The winners speak for themselves – Barbara Streisand, The Muppet Show, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Liza Minnelli, Benny Hill, Monty Python, Cirque du Soleil, Julie Andrews, Mr Bean, Nigel Kennedy, Kurt Browning, Shirley Maclaine, and the list goes on.

As the festival grew, the programme-swap format ceased to be viable and the innovative concept of the video Kiosk was born. This idea – widely copied since – rapidly turned the Rose d’Or into one of the world’s most important entertainment programme markets. With more than 40 countries participating each year, the festival is now a unique meeting place for the on-screen entertainment community, and attracts leading figures from the industry, providing a unique opportunity for discussion, debate and behind-the-scenes deal making.

It is also one of the most important platforms for promoting music and variety specials and launching new entertainment formats. In the 21st century, most of the biggest international format hits came into prominence and gained international recognition at the Rose d’Or – Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Idol, Test the Nation, The Apprentice and Weakest Link to name but a few.

In 2009, the Swiss multinational media company Ringier took the Rose d’Or under its wing and brought the festival into its 50th anniversary. Ringier is committed to further raising the profile of the Rose d’Or as a highlight of the entertainment industry calendar.