Can you tell us the criteria on which these awards were given?

Our vision did not relieved us of stress, of certain expectations that were never fulfilled, I think this will always happen when dealing with laureates, but what was indeed new about this first TVR Cultural Gala was that we gave the audience the chance to vote first. What I mean is that, last year's summer, in 2011, we started a movie campaign, thirty three documentaries were made with performers from Romanian counties, people who are responsible for cultural acts, but are not as famous as some personalities in Bucharest, they are the leaders of their small communities; these portrait movies were shown and the voting campaign for each individual closed two days before the final gala, and so, three sections were organized: Event, People and Organizations and for each section, three awards were given. Aside from this criterion, of the public's exclusive vote, seven special awards were given by TVR Cultural for excellency in art, and last but not least, for the faithfulness and honesty with which these partners were with us during our first decade. I believe them to be people-institution, personalities we cannot deny, whose gestures and perseverance are so transparent, for the entire world to see, that we never had any complaints about them to date.

This has been, roughly, the first edition of the TVR Cultural Awards, I think in the following editions we will have fewer awards, but we will try to maintain the audience's possibility to choose first - I have also said it on stage, at the opening. TVR Cultural's definite merit for the first ten years of its life is in the choice of its audience. We created a discerning audience, an audience that can make selections without fail, with no parti-prix inclinations, no favouritisms, we were all witness to it and I believe that this certainty is something to acknowledge.

Going over the laureate list I could notice a series of important names in the Romanian music world. How do you comment, from a personal point of view, on finding these personalities on the winner's list?

First of all, if you are talking about violinist Alexandru Tomescu, he was chosen by the audience, and even though we were for the past six years with the producers and promoters of the Stradivarius Tour, the audience were the ones who wanted Alexandru Tomescu to be on the winner list, thanks to his exclusive selection.

Are these awards just the recognition of the value of these personalities or will they also be promoted during the programmes on TVR Cultural?

For the winners of the special awards it would be superfluous to say they need promoting; they are our long term partners, and the other protagonists, who up until a while were almost anonymous, were given at least six exposure times up until now on TVR Cultural and we will continue showing those movies and talk about the actions of these local champions, and I believe that they will benefit from all our attention until the end of the 2012 anniversary year.

TVR Cultural 2012 Award List

'Event' Section

- Constantin Chiriac and the Sibiu Theatre Festival (the subject of the documentary 'City Lights', producer Mariana Badan);

- Transilvania International Film Festival (the subject of the documentary 'Lights, camera, action! Ten years of TIFF', producer Cristina Radulescu);

- Alexandru Tomescu and the Stradivarius National Tour (the subject of the documentary 'I've Left My Life in Their Hands', producer Irina Szasz).

'People' Section

- Dr. Raed Arafat (main character of '112' documentary, producer Ruxandra Tuchel);

- Radu Popa (main character of 'Serving the Community') documentary, producer Ruxandra Tuchel);

- Prof. Ioan Ursu (main character of 'Persona non grata' documentary, producer Irina Szasz).

'Organizations' Section

- The show 'Two of Us'- Ana Pepine and Paul Cimpoieru ('Vérité Theatre', producer Ruxandra Tuchel);

- Cornel Todea and 'Ion Creanga' Theatre (the theme of the documentary 'There were once 100… 1.000… 1.000.000 stories', producer Ruxandra Tuchel);

- Mihaela Sasarman and Transcena Association (the theme of the documentary '100% Against Risc' producer Ruxandra Tuchel).

Special Awards

- Mihai Constantinescu, the Artexim Director for organizing the 'George Enescu' International Festival and Competition;

- UNITER: Ion Caramitru (UNITER President) and Aura Corbeanu (UNITER Executive Vice-President) - for excellency in the theatre area, for promoting the young generation of creators and for the programs dedicated to senior artists.

- Horia Roman Patapievici, Romanian Cultural Institute President - for promoting Romanian culture all over the world.

- Grigore Lese, ethnomusicologist, producer of the show 'At Heaven's Gates' on TVR Cultural, for promoting, researching and preserving the authentic folklore heritage.

- Jurnalul Cultural (The Culture Journal) - for its uniqueness, professionalism and longevity on Romania's audio-visual market;

- Beate Köhler, Goethe Institut Bukarest Director - for the bilateral promotion of the Romanian and German culture;

- Andrei Dimitriu, General Director of the 'George Enescu' Philharmonic - for bringing back into focus the Romanian Athenaeum Conferences, a cultural tradition of the inter-war Bucharest.

The Award for the Romanians abroad

- Arh. Mihaela Schiopu

The 'In Memoriam' Award

- Dr. Grigore Schileru ('In Memoriam - Dr. Grigore Schileru' documentary, producer Diana Deleanu).