His Royal Highness Prince Radu of Romania offered a diploma to Mr Ovidiu Miculescu, President and CEO of RRBC, for his contribution to the 'Grand Prix Nova' International Radio Drama Festival organized by the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, a projectunder the high patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Margareta of Romania, the Heiress to the Throne - during the official opening festivities held in the Grigorescu Hall of the Continental Hotel.

'An international festival of such proportions, comprising three continents, and organised by one of the most important and classic institutions of culture and mass-media from the entire continent, Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, can only be an encouraging gesture for the present-day of our country. If we also think about the powerful impact Radio has on the lives of our contemporary, European or American, Asian… we see that tonight's event breaks the boundaries of culture and reaches a far more important sphere, the one of our strategy to consolidate Romania's influence in the European Union and beyond its borders. Then, it is about the art vocation in the Romanian capital, an art vocation at least two centuries old, about this city that, left alone to develop as it should, would have reached today five or six million people and would have been the Madrid of the European Orient', declared His Royal Highness Prince Radu of Romania, in the end hoping for the success of the festival.

MisterOvidiu Miculescu, President and CEO of Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, wanted in turn to remark that 'he is profoundly honoured and is glad that the Royal House of Romania ennobles this cultural event with its constant interest regarding the public Radio. We will soon celebrate eighty five years of existence and in the hour of this celebration we are facing a new challenge through the 'Grand Prix Nova' Festival. We are extending a new bridge into the ether, and we are doing it under the high and generous guidance of the Royal House of Romania, and also under the aegis of the International Radio and Television Union - URTI and the Ministry of Culture'. Mr Ovidiu Miculescuat the end of his speechmentioned that 'The Grand Prix Nova' Festival and competition represented the wish of Radio Romania, shared by all the radio stations present in the festival, to renew this radiophonic product as a hall mark of quality radio shows, to reunite those who produce or support it and to offer a clear path to the competition, in which the significance of the theatre heard in ether has to be put forward'.

Between 30^th September - 5^thOctober, in the conference halls of Continental Hotel, auditions and debates will take place, with the jury and the creators of the shows that entered the competition, which is a good opportunity for all those present to analyse the new stylistic tendencies, as well as the future of the radiophonic theatre in the present media scenery that is constantly changing at an increasing rate.

From tradition to modernity in radiophonic theatre and what perspectives the future offers to this artistic genre that is so loved; what is the risk of exceeding the consecrated expression formulae and offering the public an innovative sound experience; these are the challenges that the participants will have to respond to in the 'Grand Prix Nova - Voicing The Future' - the festival that brings to Bucharest, the most revolutionary radiophonic productions from around the world.

Organized under the aegis of theInternational Radio and Television Union (URTI) and the Ministry of Culture, the 'Grand Prix Nova' International Festival is addressed to creators, specialists and radiophonic theatre lovers alike. Its objective is to promote innovation in the field of radiophonic shows, through harnessing the possibilities of expression offered by the modern technical means, which have determined a change in the approach of this artistic genre over the last years.

The festival offers the radio professionals from all over the world a competition frame in which they can present their theatrical productions. After the preselection, the most revolutionary radiophonic shows of twenty seven companies from twenty two countries entered the competition.

The members of the jury of this first edition of the 'Grand Prix Nova' Festival are renown public figures and professionals: Nils Heyerdahl, President of the Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature, the president of the jury; Alison Hindell, Head of Audio Drama, BBC; Ljubo Pauzin, organizer of the International Prix Marulic Radio Festival held in Hvar on the island of Hvar, Croatia; Alexandru Darie, manager of the Bulandra Theatre; Ilinca Stihi, manager of the Theatre Department (National Radiophonic Theatre) within the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Coporation.

The festival's award ceremony will take place at the Elisabeta Palace Friday, 4^thOctober, and the official closing will take place on the stage of the Comedy Theatre Saturday, 5^thOctober starting at 19:00, with the performance of Ce ştie oraşul, a script for the stage by Mihai Lungeanu, adapted from the text Ce ştia satul by Ion Valjan, a veritable theatrical and musical event, coproduced by Radio Romania Culture and the Comedy Theatre.