Mumbai: IBC has announced the IBC2023 International Honour for Excellence (IHFE), its most prestigious award, will be presented to Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group on the 100th anniversary of its founding by Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack L. Warner. The IHFE is one of a series of special IBC awards celebrating the very best in innovation and change in media and entertainment. Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group and the other special IBC award honourees are being announced in advance of the IBC Innovation Awards and IBC Social Impact Awards events, where the awards will be presented along with the full slate of winners yet to be revealed. The IBC Innovation Awards take place in IBC’s Premier Lounge at 18.00 CEST on Sunday, 17 September, while the Social Impact Awards will be held the same day at 16.30 CEST in The Forum as part of the Changemakers Programme.

“These special awards exemplify the spirit of IBC2023, starting with our aim to showcase and inspire transformative innovations and other advances driving change in the industry,” said IBC CEO Michael Crimp. “IBC and the judges involved in the selection of our award winners wanted to spotlight in advance a number of organisations and individuals that have best demonstrated how the industry is rapidly evolving to meet new trends, demands and expectations.”

Special Recognition of Lasting and Transformative Innovation

As the IHFE honouree, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group epitomises the ability to continually adapt to media and entertainment market changes. Beginning as a pioneer in cinema, the company has since emerged as a leader in every aspect of the entertainment industry – from feature film, television and direct-to-consumer production to animation, comic books, video games, consumer products, themed entertainment, studio tours and brand licensing. Warner Bros.’ vast library, one of the most prestigious and valuable in the world, consists of more than 145,000 hours of programming. The studio is also home to one of the most diverse portfolios of adored franchises in the world, including Looney Tunes, Wizarding World, DC, Friends, Game of Thrones, Hanna-Barbera and many more.

“Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group has been a leading creative force in media and entertainment since its inception 100 years ago and remains an industry trailblazer,” said Crimp. “Warner Bros.’ work has had a profound impact on our industry and society over the last century and continues to do so today, shaping our culture and our understanding of the world around us through its films, television programming and other productions.”

Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-chairs and CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy said in a statement, “We are delighted to accept IBC’s International Honour for Excellence award in the studio’s 100th year. Warner Bros. has always been at the forefront of the industry because of its commitment to innovative storytelling and we want nothing more than to continue that legacy. The success of Barbie is a fantastic example of this because not only is it a great story, but it means something to people and has an impact on societies and cultures globally. We look forward to another hundred years of best-in-class movies told by incredible storytellers, who have created countless stories that have inspired a century, as well as a new generation of visionaries who we are excited to see take Warner Bros. to new heights.”

The jury for the Innovation Awards has announced the winner of the 2023 Special Award for Innovation, the German DVB-I Pilot – an initiative bringing together multiple stakeholders from the German media industry, including broadcasters, device manufacturers, software providers and research institutions. The project aims to advance the DVB-I standard to enable the ongoing use of linear TV programming. The organisations involved included: ARD (Association of Public Broadcasting Corporations in the Federal Republic of Germany), Bayerische Medien Technik GmbH, Dolby Laboratories, DVB Project, European Broadcasting Union, Fraunhofer FOKUS, LG, Media Broadcast, MIT-xperts, ProSiebenSat.1 Media, OnScreen Publishing, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), RTL Deutschland, SES, Sofia Digital, Sony Corporation, TARA Systems, TP Vision, Vestel, WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) and ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen).

For another honour being presented at the Innovation Awards event, experts from the IBC Technical Papers Committee and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have chosen the paper they feel, on peer review, represents the most impressive piece of work being presented at this year’s IBC Conference (15 and 16 September). For their work on deploying a 5G standalone non-public network at the coronation of King Charles III, Mark Waddell, Ian Wagdin, David Butler (BBC), Sam Yoffe, Kenny Barlee, Douglas Allan, Malcolm Brew, and Robert Stewart (University of Strathclyde and Neutral Wireless) will receive the Best Technical Paper Award. The committee and IET found the paper to be exceptionally well-written and materially relevant to the media industry, sharing valuable technical insight. This year’s other Technical Papers will also be presented at the conference.

Honouring Those Driving Social Advances in Media

As part of its Social Impact Awards programme, IBC has launched a new Special Award, the 2023 Changemaker Award, which this year honours the Eurovision Song Contest for its contribution to society and culture – celebrating a brand that continues to stay relevant and fresh on a huge scale. The award recognises the multifaceted cultural phenomenon and the global production network involved in delivering the event. IBC will be welcoming Martin Österdahl, European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest to the stage at the Changemakers programme to accept the award and talk about the live broadcasting event. The 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the BBC and the EBU on behalf of Ukraine’s UA:PBC, was watched on five continents, with 162 million viewers tuning in to watch the competition over the three live shows.

IBC has also announced that the 2023 Special Award for Social Impact, selected by the Social Impact Awards jury, will be presented to the Women in Streaming Media Mentorship Programme, which focuses on career development and personal growth goals that support business objectives. Women in Streaming Media has grown from 50 members to 1,200 in the last five years to establish a significant presence in the industry. Its free, six-month mentorship programme has played a part in the appointment of six board director seats and eleven C-suite roles, among forty-five promotions and placements.