Letters • November 30 2003

BA awards shambles

E.L. Borg
Mgarr

Gozo It has been deteriorating every year, but this time it hit rock bottom. There I was once again present for the ‘Show of Shame,’ with all the audacity at Manoel Theatre, to cap it all.
The BA people thought that by declaring that they had a money problem they could get away with murder.
Problem no money. So they decided to take away the prize money this time even though producers had to pay a tenner each time they presented a programme for assessment. Some audacity. The big golden bronze trophy was bigger than life on stage, but no winner could hold one in his hand this year. Instead a cheap placard was the answer to the money problem.
The official programme was another case of ‘tal-biki.’ Cheap printing with inaccuracies galore. One-way of reasoning this one out is why bother checking it before printing. To busy for these trifling things.
Problem no money. So the show had to bear the smallest of screens placed at a funny angle on stage.
‘It-teatrin tar-rahal’ would never dare present such a drab show without risking receiving a tomato shower.
But these highly intellectuals and masters of the small screen advisors completely ignored the intelligence of the audience by literally having a compere not even capable of reading his script properly. Added to that the host presenters of the day, who were selected for their popular personalities in the trade, couldn’t even script a funny joke. Never mind not being able to read in Maltese. Only the English guest could, at least, read the names in a decent way. Never again will I attend such mediocrity.
Coming to the adjudicating panel, I will reserve my judgement after this panel may enlighten us on these queries: does the panel judge a Radio/TV programme on just one programme or on the whole series of the programmes in question presented throughout the whole Radio/TV schedule? Does the panel monitor the programmes to ascertain that the programmes, which are being processed for merit, sustain the same level of production as the one that was presented to them? How many judges are there in each category? What are the criteria’s that decides a winning programme? How does one find out the criteria’s of the panel to be submitted for consideration? How many and for how long have the panel members been serving? Are the panel members experts in their fields? Are they just experts in the category? Do they possess radio/television production experience? Isn’t it time to publish the panels’ reports without reservation? Isn’t it time to publish all applicants of each category? Is one entry enough to win a category? What kind of tape does the panel accept, vhs, beta, digital or otherwise? Can you explain the point system of each category? Is there a point system for filming, editing, presentation, production, etc or is there an overall assessment?
A straightforward answer from the chairman of a panel who are dedicated to the cause will clear a lot of unwarranted critism.