The piece by Anna Kołodziejczyk, which won in the Music category, examines the genesis of famous Solidarity-era protest song “Walls” (“Mury”), which came to be the unofficial anthem of Poland’s pro-democracy movement in the 1980s.
Kołodziejczyk’s feature, produced by the Polish Radio 3 channel, was praised for its universal message, multi-layered narrative and technical excellence.
The original version of the song “Walls” was created by the Catalan singer-songwriter Lluís Llach. It was entitled "L'Estaca" and voiced opposition to the Franco dictatorship.
The tune became more widely known when Polish bard Jacek Kaczmarski created a version of it in his native language.
Its lyrics - “and the walls will come tumbling down…” - delivered a message both poignant and rousing, bolstering the spirits of those who opposed Poland’s communist regime.
Fourteen radio productions were submitted for the Prix Italia competition’s Music category this year, of which seven made it through to the finals.
Polish Radio won a Prix Italia award in the same category in 2014.
The Prix Italia is an international Italian television, radio broadcasting and website award. It was established in 1948.
The motto of this year’s competition was “Celebrating cultural diversity in a global media world.”
(pk/gs)