Entertaining yet sensitive look at Alzheimer’s wins the Grand Prix 2012 Japan Prize

An animated film about two elderly men struggling with Alzheimer’s has won the top award in this year’s Japan Prize for educational media.

Based on Paco Roca’s award-winning graphic novel Wrinkles, the animated film by Perro Verde Films, Cromosoma and Elephant in the Black Box tells how the lives of two old men in an aged care home are given new beginnings by the mischievous scheming of residents.

In awarding it this year’s Grand Prix from the President of NHK, the Japan Prize judges called it “an entertaining yet profoundly sensitive look at today’s complex issue of caring for the elderly”.

Established in 1965, the Japan Prize works with the world’s educational media experts to recognise the highest quality educational TV programs and websites and offers a forum for producers, broadcasters and educators around the world.

The Awards Ceremony held at the NHK Broadcasting Center in Tokyo handed out a number of other awards in different categories:

• Pre-School (The Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Prize) for Tord’s Garage by NRK-Norway);
• Primary (The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Prize) for My Farm, My Classroom by Doordarshan India;
• Youth (The Minister of Foreign Affairs Prize) for Deaf Jam by ITVS City Lore, US;
• Continuing Education (The Governor of Tokyo Prize) for The Cosmic Shore by NHK-Japan;
• Innovative Media (The Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Prize) for The Alzheimer Experience by Submarine, Netherlands;
• The Maeda Prize for Angak, Bangak and Clola Sangak (ABC) by Aria TV, Afghanistan;
• The Japan Foundation President’s Prize for Another Night on Earth by Hibrida, Spain;
• The UNICEF Prize for Blossom with Tears by Zhengjiang Satellite TV, China.

In addition, a cash prize of US$8,000 from the Hoso Bunka Foundation in the TV Proposal Division to encourage program producers with limited means went to Believe in Yourself by Joining Hands Nepal.

The National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan Prize for an entry that excels at fostering literacy and education in a national language went to Kids, Camera, Action by RTVC Colombia.

A full list of the 2012 Japan Prize winners is found here.