This year, the five-member Jury will be made up of representatives from from Switzerland, Finland, Canada, Croatia and the Czech Republic. The Jury’s hands will be full, as they will have to award five prizes: Grand Prix Golden Prague, three Czech Crystals and Special Mention for Extraordinary Artistic Achievement.
Markus Wicker, a Swiss TV and radio producer who has worked for several decades for Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF), will be heading the Jury. Since 2013 he has been Editor-in-chief and Producer for Culture, Music and Events in the culture department of SRF, producing music documentary features, concert events and developing music formats.
Jyrki Nokkonen works as Acquisitions Executive of Music + Entertainment at YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company. Besides all music and dance from classical to popular (performances and documentaries) his current duties also include acquiring various types of entertainment programmes, including foreign comedy series, for YLE’s three national TV channels and also for YLE's successful free online service YLE Areena.
Another Jury member, producer Jason Charters, will join us from faraway Canada. He is an International Emmy-nominated writer and producer, and one of the founders of Riddle Films, a company based in Toronto, Canada, dedicated to capturing the worlds of the performing arts and culture. Among elsewhere, their programs and films have appeared on the CBC, PBS, ARTE, the BBC, NHK, NDR, SVT, at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Ivana Kocelj has served as a Head of Music Department managing four radio ensembles at Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT). She produced hundreds of TV concert recordings and live events, wrote scenarios and produced seven TV music documentaries... Since 2013 she has been a host of New Year's Concert in Vienna. For 17 years she has been responsible for the Croatian participation at Eurovision Young Musicians organizing the national selections and taking the role of the HRT's Head of Delegation.
Marie Kučerová, Director of the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, will represent the Czech Republic in the Jury. She worked for Czech Television as a producer of music programmes from 1989 to 2013. She represented Czech TV at IMZ and EBU for several years, co-producing music and dance films. She has been Director of the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra since 2013, where she is responsible for a large symphonic orchestra, the concert season and the organisation of four international music festivals.