Contest

WHEN SOUND IS ART

Once a year, by means of numerous European radio partners, Phonurgia Nova Awards distinguishes authors who explore reality and imagination with sound

The Phonurgia Nova Prize will be awarded this year for the 27th time. Born in 1986, the festival is the oldest and most prestigious event in the field of radio, sound art and podcast in France. Progressively it has become one of the internationally most important prize for cutting-edge works of radio art. Last year, 256 productions from 21 different countries were entered, and 38 of those were selected for the Festival at the BnF (Bibliothèque Nationale de France). Again this year, we will be pleased to discover works challenging the radio and podcast universally. During the festival, the submissions will be auditioned and reviewed by a live jury.

Celebrating the best of french and international radio and sound art, this jury is looking for “the crème de la crème” of creative documentaries, radio drama, field recording, hörspiel, audio pieces, and podcasts. 

The event brings together authors from all over Europe and beyond. Sharing a burning desire – to tell stories with and through sound – these adventurers renew the concept of phonography, which is not considered here as a tool for reproduction, but as a medium for interpreting reality and for creation in its own right. Recorded or invented soundscapes, documentaries or ambitious radio dramas, collections of words, and poetic productions of all kinds are heard (often for the first time) during listening sessions that expand our horizons.

Two calls for entries are launched simultaneously: the first concerns finished works, the second unfinished projects. In 5 categories: documentary, sound fiction, sound art, field recording and young creation (artists under 30) Registration is open until 30th July 2022. The selected works will be presented to the public and discussed by an international jury over the course of 3 dates : the 3rd, 4th and 5th November 2022 at Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle and IRCAM Centre Pompidou in Paris. The best projects will share between them 4 creative residencies in 2023 to be hosted by the studios of the GMEM, Euphonia, the INA-GRM and Art Zoyd.