On Thursday evening, the German AIDS Foundation awarded its traditional HIV/AIDS media prize for the years 2021 and 2022. At the German-Austrian AIDS Congress (DÖAK) at the foundation’s headquarters in Bonn, the organization awarded the non-endowed special prize to the five-part British mini-series “It’s a Sin” by Russell T. Davies.
“The series authentically conveys the mood of the 80s: prejudiced, homophobic, with sometimes abstruse attempts to explain the increasing wave of infections, the hysteria of those days,” explained the expert jury. “The excellent series tells directly about illness and dying, death and grief – and at the same time it celebrates life against all conventions. It’s entertaining without becoming shallow. Informative without coming across as instructive – and brilliantly implemented on all levels.”
“It’s a Sin” premiered in Germany in June 2020 on the streaming portal Starzplay (queer.de reported). The series is available today on Lionsgate+, among others, and is available for purchase on Amazon Video.
Other award winners
The Deutschlandfunk/WDR5 radio feature also received an award from the German Aids Foundation “Michael’s First Year with the Virus” by Ole Siebrecht and Matthias Kapohl, the “SZ Magazin” article “We were all scared” by Gabriela Herpell and Lars Reichardt as well as the journalist Axel Schock for his “decades of continuous and expert reporting on HIV/AIDS, above all as a freelance author of the magazin.hiv of the German Aidshilfe”. According to the jury, Schock’s texts are “calm, scientifically sound, instructive – and almost always entertaining”.
The jury also made a book recommendation: “Kahlschlag AIDS – power and powerlessness of a test” (Amazon-Affiliate-Link ) by Christian Noak and Ernst M. Häussinger shows “not only life with AIDS in the 80s and early 90s. Above all, it is a poetic mirror. The poems and texts won’t let you go while reading.”
The prize money totaling 15,000 euros is provided by the Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (vfa). The award of the German Aids Foundation is the only media award on the subject of HIV/AIDS in the German-speaking area. It has been awarded for 36 years, initially annually and since 2001 every two years. (pm/dk)
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