Joko Winterscheidt wins the television prize with the ProSieben quiz

“The Wannsee Conference” was awarded the German Television Prize for TV film of the year. At the gala on Wednesday evening in Cologne, the ZDF production was able to prevail over the ARD film “Ein Leben Lang” and the RTL film “Dasweiße Schweigen”.

As producer Oliver Berben said in his acceptance speech, the film about the organization of the Holocaust by leading Nazis in 1942 has now been sold in over 50 countries.

Presenter and musician Giovanni Zarrella was awarded the coveted trophy for the best individual performance as an entertainment presenter. His first comment was, “Okay, that’s awesome.”

But then Zarrella started a far-reaching acceptance speech, which was first addressed to his wife Jana Ina Zarrella. “Honey, you know very well: the last few years, they haven’t always been easy for us and they haven’t always been easy,” he said. “You made me a better man, a better person, a better father. I love you more than anything.” Many tears flowed from the 45-year-old.

It was one of the emotional highlights of the TV gala, which was produced in Cologne and at which prizes in around 20 categories went to protagonists from the TV industry. The award was divided into two consecutive gala evenings in 2022. The show on Wednesday was the second – with the higher celebrity density.

Before his triumph, Zarrella had lost out in another category. His colleague Joko Winterscheidt (43) got his ProSieben quiz “Who is stealing the show from me?” the award for the best entertainment show – ahead of Zarrella’s format. He had already won in the division last year. “I would never have thought that it was really realistic,” said Winterscheidt, who was a little taken aback by defending his title.

In addition to show and fiction, the television prize also recognizes journalistic achievements. In the Best Personal Achievement/Information category, the jury nominated three television reporters from the Ukraine war. ZDF reporter Katrin Eigendorf was able to win the television prize, and Welt reporter Steffen Schwarzkopf and RTL/n-tv reporter Kavita Sharma were also nominated for their work in the war zone. In her speech, Eigendorf thanked the employees behind the camera and the Ukrainian helpers of the television teams.

A hard break in the course of the gala for the award ceremony, moderated by Barbara Schöneberger, was the change from the war reporters to the next category – this was about the category Best Entertainment Reality. Despite significantly higher ratings, it was not the RTL jungle camp that prevailed here, but the format “Kampf der Realitystars” running on RTL2. Also known as an influencer, presenter Cathy Hummels couldn’t hold back tears in her acceptance speech as she thanked her four-year-old son for giving up her so much for the show.

Friedrike Becht was honored as best actress for the ARD production “Schneller als die Angst” and Moritz Bleibtreu as best actor for the RTL series “Faking Hitler” about the Hitler diaries. As Best Comedy Production “LOL – Last One Laughing” by Bully Herbig.

The German Television Prize was awarded in a total of 30 categories. Eight awards went to ARD, six to ZDF, three to RTL and three to ProSiebenSat.1. The payment channel Sky received two prizes, the streaming service Netflix two, and MagentaTV, 3sat, RTL2 and Prime Video received one prize each.

Jury chairman Wolf Bauer explained that German television is currently characterized by “an impressive variety of content, forms and perspectives”. Overall, television has become more willing to experiment, more diverse and therefore more up-to-date. However, Bauer conceded that an important task remains to involve more female creatives in the creative processes. “There is certainly still a long way to go here.” Across all categories, only 29 percent of the prizes went to women.