At the 2013 World Media Festival in Hamburg, DW programming won three gold awards in competition with over 600 entries coming from 36 countries. The festival, hosted by intermedia, is an international competition that celebrates modern media. The DW documentary Schumann at Pier 2, an all access musical journey featuring special performances of Schumann’s four symphonies, won first prize in the category Documentaries – Arts. DW’s weekly magazine covering all things online, Shift – Living in the digital age, won gold in the category Documentaries- Magazine Formats. Namati’s World – The dreams and fears of a young coral in the South Pacific is a web documentary that tells the story of a 114-year-old brain coral with captivating underwater footage taken off the coast of the Pacific archipelago nation of Vanuatu. The multimedia production won the gold in Education and E-Learning. DW programming also received five silver awards in a wide range of categories.

Promoting democracy has always been important to DW and now you can participate as well! DW’s new multimedia special Power to the People showcases activists who are using modern media and technology to speak out for positive change in their countries. We give you an inside look at who is fighting to make a difference and the real problems they face every day. We also want your opinion! Users can get involved on DW’s social media channels and discuss questions raised by the thought provoking essays and inspiring stories featured every week. Political cartoons cast a light-hearted glow on serious issues and state-of-the-art graphics clarify the data. What do different protest movements have in common? What role does the west really play in promoting democracy and what is in store for the future of developing societies? The questions are endless. If you’re not already curious just visit the site.

In honor of Richard Wagner’s 200th birthday, DW is producing a documentary titled, The Colón Ring – Wagner in Buenos Aires. The program follows the legendary opera house Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires as its members stage a never before seen 7-hour  condensed version of Wagner’s powerful musical drama, “The Ring of the Nibelung”. The film premiered to an audience of 600 at the Delphi Filmpalast in Berlin on April 14 and drew warm applause and much praise. Global audiences can look forward to the television debut on DW scheduled for May 11 and 18, just before Wagner’s birthday on May 22. The two-part documentary will be broadcast in German, English, Spanish and Arabic. The DVD and Blu-ray box set, which include the performance itself, are also scheduled for release in May. Wagner fans wanting more can go online at www.dw.com and check out Wagner 200, a multimedia special devoted to celebrating the composer and his life’s work.

 

Peter Limbourg will be the new Director General of Deutsche Welle (DW). On March 15, the Broadcasting Board elected the current Senior Vice President of News and Political Information of ProSiebenSat.1 TV Germany as the successor to Erik Bettermann with a clear majority. Bettermann, whose term as DW’s Director General will officially end on September 30, 2013, has been in charge of Germany’s international broadcaster since 2001.

“Together with my colleagues, I hope to further enhance Deutsche Welle’s journalistic standing and its multilingual and multimedia programming. Intensifying DW’s cooperation with Germany’s public service broadcasters ARD and ZDF is another goal I have set myself,” said Limbourg.

 

For half a century, DW has been broadcasting reliable news and information in Kiswahili to listeners in Eastern Africa and the Great Lakes region. DW celebrated this anniversary today with an event in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, by bringing opinion leaders together for a discussion on “Knowledge and Awareness through Media”. Keynotes were held by the German Ambassador, Klaus-Peter Brandes and Andrea Schmidt, head of DW’s Kiswahili Service.

“The majority of our listeners live here in Tanzania so it was an obvious choice for our celebration,” said Andrea Schmidt. “For the last 50 years, DW has been committed to providing balanced news and reliable information, offering people in East Africa insights and detailed analysis on the issues that matter most.”

The panel discussion at the event was organized with the help of GIZ in Dar es Salaam and moderated by DW’s Mohammed Khelef. Participants included distinguished Tanzanian media professionals likeAssah Andrew Mwambene (Director of Tanzania Information Services / Maelezo), Mohamed Abdulrahman (DW), Jenerali Ulimwengu (journalist), Valerie Msoka (Director of TAMWA) and Maggid Mjengwa (social media expert).

DW’s Kiswahili Service broadcasts daily three hours to East Africa and the Great Lakes region. By working with partner stations throughout the region, DW is able to provide listeners via FM balanced coverage of what is going on in the world in general and in Africa in particular. To provide this international perspective, a team of journalists from five African countries works together with a network of correspondents. Kiswahili programming is one of the most popular that DW offers. DW has integrated award-winning educational content with Learning by Ear and a huge variety of features covering health, human rights, environment, women and development, youth and lifestyle and culture.