The FRAPA Format Awards were launched in 2005 at the Rose d’Or Television Festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. In the first two years, awards were presented in just three categories: best game-show format, best reality format and best scripted format. The winners were selected by a jury of industry experts.

In 2007, FRAPA decided to rebrand the Awards in order to raise their international impact. It therefore joined forces with the influential entertainment business publisher 21Media and the competition was moved to the world’s foremost audiovisual content trade show: MIPCOM in Cannes, France.

Renamed C21Media/FRAPA Format Awards, the annual event now takes place at an exclusive beach-front venue in Cannes, attended by some 250 MIPCOM delegates.

The C21 Media/FRAPA Format Awards are unique not only because they are devoted exclusively to television formats, but also because of the online screening and voting mechanism that lies at their heart. The judge and jury are C21’s 30,000-strong online community, which votes via the C21screenings.net video portal. As a result, the awards are truly international, truly democratic and a true reflection of the best creativity in the global format industry.

In 2008, some 16,000 clips were streamed of the 80-plus international formats that had made it through the selection process to the online final. That was up 50% on the number of clips streamed in 2007.

Each year, the Awards committee also presents a Gold Medal to an organisation or individual that has made an outstanding contribution to the worldwide format business. Last year, the honour went to the prolific UK format creators, Stephen Leahy and Trish Kinane.