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Sven Kockelmann wins Sonja Barend Award for Dick Schoof interview
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Sven Kockelmann has received the Sonja Barend Award for his interview with outgoing Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof. A jury of more than 50 professionals chose it as the best interview of the past television season.
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Sven Kockelmann has won the 2026 Sonja Barend Award for his interview with outgoing Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof, broadcast in a special edition of *Café Kockelmann* on NPO 2.
A jury of more than 50 television professionals selected Kockelmann from a longlist of nine interviews. It praised the human way he questioned Schoof about his premiership. The award is the first for the 56-year-old presenter.
Coen Verbraak, last year’s winner, came second for his interview with journalist Frits Abrahams about Abrahams’s wife, who has dementia. Eva Jinek placed third for her interview with SGP leader Chris Stoffer about his party’s anti-abortion position.
Kockelmann received the award on Sunday on NPO 1’s *Pauw & De Wit*. The prize, an initiative of *VARAgids*, was presented for the 18th time. It was the first ceremony held without its namesake, Sonja Barend, who died in April aged 86.
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