TEFI () is an annual award given in the Russian television industry, presented by the Russian Academy of Television. It has been awarded since 1994. TEFI is presented in various sectors (up to 50 nominations in 2008), such as television shows, notable people in the television industry, journalists, or channels. The winners are awarded the Orpheus statuette created by Ernst Neizvestny. It can be considered the Russian analogue of the Emmy Awards. The 2002 Edition was postponed to 31 January 2003 due to the Moscow theater hostage crisis.
History of the Award
In April 1994, the Academy of Russian Television was established by several influential broadcasting organizations (RTRC "Ostankino", NTV Television Company, and 2x2"Academy of Russian TV Established"), effectively replacing television film festivals, the last of which (the 15th) took place in 1993. On , the Academy founded the TEFI Award (from "Television EFIr" [Television Broadcast]). Initially, it included three categories for entertainment programs ("Best Television Film," "Best Entertainment Program," "Best Entertainment Program Host"), one for artistic-publicistic programs ("Best Arts Program"), five for news and socio-political programs ("Best News Program," "Best News Anchor," "Best Reporter," "Best Publicistic Program," "Best Publicistic Program Host"), and others for thematic programs ("Best Educational Program," "Best Sports Program," "Best Children's Program").
In 1998, the "Best Television Film" category was split into "Television Fiction Film/Series" and "Television Documentary Film/Series." The "Publicistic Program" category gave rise to "Talk Show," and "Sports Program" was divided into "Sports Commentator." New categories included "Directing," "Cinematography," and "Producing."
In 2000, "Television Fiction Film/Series" was split into "Television Fiction Film" and "Television Fiction Series." The "Entertainment Program" category became "Television Game" and "Comedy Program," while "Journalistic Investigation" and "Interviewer" were introduced as separate categories. The "Screenwriter" category was added.
The 2002 TEFI Awards were originally scheduled for October 2002 but postponed to January 2003 due to the tragic events in Moscow from October 23–26, 2002.
In 2003, new categories were introduced: "Best Actor in a Television Film/Series," "Best Actress in a Television Film/Series," "Production Design," and "Sound Design." The "Screenwriter," "Directing," and "Cinematography" categories were divided into subcategories for films/series and thematic programs.
In 2004, the "Screenwriter," "Directing," and "Cinematography" categories for films/series were further split into fiction and documentary subcategories. The "History Program" category was separated from "Science Program."
In 2007, Gazprom-Media (owner of NTV and TNT) withdrew from the competition.
In 2008, VGTRK (channels "Rossiya," "Kultura," "Sport," and "Vesti") also withdrew. That year, "Sitcom" emerged as a separate category from "Television Fiction Series," while "Producer," "Production Design," and "Sound Design" were divided into subcategories for films/series and thematic programs.
Following the withdrawal of several major TV channels, Vladimir Pozner resigned as president of the Academy of Russian Television, succeeded by Mikhail Shvydkoy.
In 2011, the category "Television Fiction Series" was split into "Television Fiction Series — TV Novel/Telenovela." The "Music Program" category was divided into "Music Program: Classical" and "Music Program: Popular Music," while "Television Game" was split into "Television Game: Intellectual Competition" and "Television Game: Sports Competition."
In 2013, VGTRK withdrew from the Academy of Russian Television, halting its funding and barring its regional channels from participating in TEFI competitions. Subsequently, Channel One Russia announced it would not nominate programs for "TEFI—2013" due to the "absence of major competitors". Mikhail Shvydkoy also resigned as president of the Academy.
On , the Board of Trustees of the Academy of Russian Television decided to suspend the TEFI competition until new rules and regulations could be established.
In December 2013, the Board elected Alexander Akopov as the Academy’s new president and approved the transfer of intellectual property rights for the "TEFI" brand, the "National Television Award TEFI," and the TEFI statuette to the newly formed "Committee of Industrial Television Awards" (headed by ), established on November 15, 2013. The transfer was finalized on April 3, 2014.
On , the national TEFI competition resumed, accepting entries for "TEFI—2014." Categories were renamed ("Daytime Broadcast" and "Evening Prime") with 12 nominations each. Remaining nominations included "Television Film/Series" (for films, miniseries, serial dramas, telenovelas, and sitcoms) and acting awards. Voting rules were revised: juries included 20 representatives from each founding organization (e.g., Channel One, VGTRK, Gazprom-Media, STS Media, and National Media Group).
On , leadership changes occurred: Mikhail Shvydkoy became Chairman of the Board, and Maya Kobakhidze was appointed General Director.
In 2016, under "Daytime Broadcast," "Telenovela" and "Sitcom" merged into "Daytime Television Series." The "Evening Prime" category "Television Film/Series" (retaining films, miniseries, serial dramas, and telenovelas) spawned "Television Multi-Episode Comedy/Sitcom." New categories included "Director of a Television Film/Series," while "Entertainment Program" split into "Humorous Program/Show."
The "TEFI—2017" ceremony, initially scheduled for June 27, 2017, was postponed to October 3 after a "computer error" during vote counting necessitated a revote.
Recipients
News programs Vremya (Channel One) — 2002, 2006, 2007 Vesti (Russia TV) — 1995, 2001 Segodnia (NTV) — 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004 Vesti with Sergey Brilyov (Rossiya 1) — 2006 Nedelia s Mariannoy Maximovskoy (REN TV) — 2008, 2009, 2010 News 24 with Mikhail Osokin (REN TV) — 2010 Culture News (Kultura) — 2003
Game shows Umniki i umnitsy (Channel One) — 1996, 2001 What? Where? When? (Channel One) — 1997, 2001 Zov Djungley (Channel One) — 1999 O, shastlivchik (NTV) — 2000 Srazis s Natsiey (Bibigon) — 2008 Total Recall (Bibigon) — 2008
Other Gentleman show (Channel One, NTV, Rossiya 1) — 1994 KOAPP (Channel One, TV Company "Class!") — 2001 Spokoinoi nochi, malyshi! (Channel One/Rossiya) — 1997, 2002, 2003 Gorodok (Rossiya 1) — 1996, 1999, 2002 Dancing with the Stars (Rossiya 1) — 2006 Dve Zvezdy (Channel One) — 2008 Thank God You're Here (CTC) — 2008 Prozhektorperiskhilton (Channel One) — 2008, 2009, 2010 Bolshaya raznitsa (Channel One) — 2009, 2010 In the World of Animals (Channel One) — 1996 V Nashu Gavan Zahodili Korabli (NTV, TV6, TBC) — 2000, 2002 Puteshestvie Naturalista (NTV) — 2001, 2002 Vremena (Channel One) — 2001 Zhdi Menia (Channel One) — 2001, 2002 Tushite Sviet (NTV, TNT, TV6, TBC) — 2001, 2002, 2004 Shkola Zloslovia (Kultura) — 2003 Little Non-Blue Light (Ren TV) — 2004 Istorii v Detaliakh (CTC) — 2006 Poka vse doma (Channel One) — 2006 Dezhurny po strane with Mikhail Zhvanetsky (Rossiya 1) — 2006 Sto Voprosov Vzroslomu (TV Center) — 2007 History of Russian show business (CTC) — 2010 Oryol i Reshka (Pyatnica!) — 2014, 2016 Polyglot (Kultura) — 2014 On the Knives (Pyatnica!) — 2019 «Fortress. The History of the Russian Crisis» (Documentary. Digital media; Alexey Bokov) - 2021
People
Vladislav Listyev — 1994 Valentina Leontyeva — 2000 Svetlana Sorokina — 1996, 2000, 2005 Leonid Yakubovich — 1995, 1999 Yelena Masyuk — 1995, 1998, 2002 Alexander Maslyakov — 1996, 2002 Fyodor Torstensen — 1997, 2004 Vladimir Molchanov — 1998 Konstantin Ernst — 1998, 2001 Gleb Skorokhodov – 1999Gleb Skorokhodov в архиве новых поступлений Главного архивного управления Москвы Alexander Rodnyansky — 2004, 2005 Anastasia Zavorotnyuk — 2005 Arkady Mayofis — 2005 Leonid Mlechin — 2007 Dmitry Guberniev — 2007 Ivan Urgant — 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016 Pyotr Tolstoy — 2007 Ekaterina Andreeva — 2007 Sergei Pashkov — 2007 Kevin Owen — 2008 Sergei Kapitsa — 2008 Dmitrii Frolov — 2008 Larisa Sinelshchikova — 2009В Москве вручили премию ТЭФИ в номинации «Профессии»
Prize statuette
The winners of the competition are awarded a bronze statuette "Orpheus" and a "golden" diploma, the finalists of the competition receive only a "silver" diploma. The prize presented to the winners is a sculpture of a character from ancient Greek mythology, singer and musician Orpheus, who tears his chest and plays on the strings of his soul. The author of the statuette, sculptor Ernst Neizvestny, scaled his two—meter statue of Orpheus, created in 1962, for a new award. The prizes are made in the American workshop of Ernst Neizvestny's student Jeff Blumis. One statuette weighs 8.5 kg, the cost of its manufacture at the beginning of the 2000s was one thousand US dollars.
Criticism
The film "The Great Mystery of Water", which won three awards, caused a huge resonance in society, numerous disputes and criticism from representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, who accused the creators of occult and esoteric content passed off as science, as well as disorientation of believers.Пикалев А. «Плесень» — кушать подано! // anticekta.ruБелодуров Г. Фильм «Вода»: документальная ложь. // Журнал «Нескучный сад» Georgy Belodurov noted that most of the academicians involved in the film are academicians of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. The Commission on Combating Pseudoscience and Falsification of Scientific Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences spoke extremely harshly about the film. The bulletin of the Commission notes:
Fyodor Razzakov writes about the award to Andrei Malakhov, Quoting an article from a newspaper Izvestia:
Director Oleg Dorman, who was awarded a Special Prize by the Academy of Russian Television in 2010 as part of the TEFI—2010 Award (for the film Podstrachnik), refused to accept the award, saying:
TV journalist Evgeny Kiselyov noted in 2004:
A similar opinion is shared by the television critic Slava Taroshchina. and the award-winning TV journalist Julia Muchnik.
In the context of the postponement of the 2017 TEFI Award ceremony from June to October of the same year, Russian journalist Vladimir Kara—Murza Sr. noted:
References
External links (in Russian).