The 2009 Hestenes Award goes to Hans Olav Brenner

Hans Olav Brenner (photo), a journalist at the TV channel NRK and the host of Bokprogrammet (”The Book Show”), was Monday August 24 presented with the 2009 Hestenes Award during the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund.

The Hestenes Award is given to journalists who have distinguished themselves within the genres of reporting, interviews and portraits, preferably in the areas of culture and cinema. The winner shall also, like Arne Hestenes, show linguistic suppleness and force out of the ordinary.

The jury says about this year’s winner that, among other things, he has distinguished himself with a series of portraits of leading cultural personalities in Norway and from abroad, and with reporting that in its curiosity, fresh angles and relaxed style digs deeply into high as well as low cultural phenomena.

Brenner is mostly known for his interviews of writers but during the summer we have also seen him doing portraits of leaders of the political parties, in the NRK show Sommeråpent.

The Hestenes Award is presented by the newspaper Dagbladet, the Norwegian International Film Festival and the Institute of Journalism. Former winners include Vetle Lid Larssen, Linn Ullmann, Anne Sandvik Lindmo, Osman Kibar, Kjetil Østli, Mikal Olsen Lerøen, Ingvild Wedaa Tennfjord and Nils Anker.

The members of the jury were Jane Throndsen (Dagbladet), Gunnar Johan Løvvik (the Norwegian International Film Festival) and Tord E. Nedrelid (Institute of Journalism).

The prize consists of a diploma and NOK 30,000.

Furthermore, during the Norwegian International Film Festival this evening, the film journalist Jørn Rossing Jensen was presented with Den spillende faun (“The Playing Faun”) by Petter Steen Jr., the mayor of Haugesund, while Fox Film represented by Bjørn Jacobsen won Gullstrimmelen (“The Golden Ribbon”) given by the Norwegian Cinema Association.

Source: Filmweb.no