A Euromaxx segment has been given recognized by the Accolade Competition. At the end of November, the strange world of max x was given an Award of Excellence in the “comedy series” category. With max x, DW has found a clever way to dissect modern society. Sometimes he has to wrestle with the technical pitfalls of his mobile phone, and other times it only takes a folding chair to drive him crazy. He’s just a normal guy trying to cope with the challenges of modern life.

DW has once again been recognized for its work with Euromaxx. This past weekend, the six-part series “The XX Factor” received a Platinum Remi Award at the 45^th Annual WorldFest – Houston International Film Festival. Euromaxx reporter Nadja Scholz, who hosted the series, was in Houston to accept the award from festival director Hunter Todd. The XX Factor takes a look at six women in Europe who have had successful careers in typically male-dominated industries – from DJ to auto designers.

This is the 10^th time that Euromaxx has received an award at the WorldFest Houston.

DW Akademie believes more should be done for local journalists and that thorough research needs to be recognized. With Investiga DW is introducing a journalism prize in Latin America that should highlight these issues and the journalists that work to ensure them. The competition is open to television, radio and online journalists and the deadline for submissions is April 30, 2012.

The focus will be on reports with a social and political weight – topics that Colombian journalists are sometimes hesitant to tackle. “We’re hoping for a courageous type of local journalism, one that shapes public opinion without being patronizing. This is incredibly important in Latin American countries where media systems are usually centralized,” says Petra Berner from DW Akademie.

DW Akademie will award the winner a ten-day trip to Germany. This will include participation in the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum and discussions with DW staff in Bonn and Berlin. The runner-up will receive a multimedia equipment set, funded by the Universidad del Norte.

In Spanish, “investigar” means to investigate, to research. “We want to motivate local journalists to dig deeper. We’re looking for stories that haven’t been told,” says DW Akademie Director Gerda Meuer.

DW is in Nigeria this week looking for extraordinary journalistic talent. Under the motto “Social media: a challenge for journalism”, Germany’s international broadcaster developed a contest to award the best up-and-coming journalists in Kano. Entries were received as both audio reports and articles.

This project represents more than three and a half years of cooperation with Freedom Radio in Nigeria. It is also the first time that Deutsche Welle has worked with Bayero University.

Winners will be chosen by a jury made up of experts from DW’s partners Freedom Radio and Freedom Express, the faculty from the Department of Mass Communications at the Bayero University, and an independent journalist. The award ceremony will also feature a podium discussion about the impact of social media on Nigerian journalism in the future.

At the WorldMediaFestival in Hamburg, DW was recognized for several of its productions over the last year. DW’s documentary The Beethoven Project was awarded the Grand Prix at last week’s event. The 90-minute documentary from Christian Berger was broadcast in 2010. Berger and his camera team accompanied the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and its conductor Paavo Järvi for several weeks as they performed some of Beethoven’s works.

The documentary has been awarded several prizes over the last year, including the “Creation Award” from “Eyes and Ears of Europe”, and at the film festivals in Montreal (Canada), Ghuangzhou (China), Rhode Island and Cincinnati (USA).

Find out more about The Beethoven Project or see a complete list of winners from the WorldMediaFestival.