President George Abela's decision to remove prizes from the annual charity telethon L-Istrina will test the generosity of the Maltese but many former organisers of this event are confident the country will pass.

PBS chairman Clare Thake Vassallo, who took charge of last year's event, said the Maltese had already passed "with flying colours" by raising more than €14 million since L-Istrina's inception 15 years ago.

Last year, Dr Thake Vassallo had spoken in favour of the prize-giving format, saying this was simply a way to "maximise generosity" and there was nothing immoral about it.

Under her leadership, PBS had cancelled several activities prepared for last year's telethon because people were only calling when prizes were being given out. She now believes that, although prizes are not immoral, the prize-giving format had made the event too controversial, so she welcomed the changes.

"I think it was time for this radical change even though I don't disagree with giving out prizes."

When asked whether she felt the sum raised in the coming edition would be satisfactory, she hoped the new format would appeal to people in a different way but said all anyone could do was wait and see.

Television producer and presenter Peppi Azzopardi, who founded the yearly charity event and has always defended the prize-giving format, shared her sentiments.

He argued that whether prizes were part of the event or not was "irrelevant" because people did not make donations to charity to win a prize. "This will be the chance to prove what we have been saying all along, that people are giving money because they are generous not because they want to win prizes," he said.

However, he still insisted there was nothing wrong in donating money and winning a prize. "It is being said that those who give money this year will not be expecting anything in return. But if we use this argument we can say that when a ball or a charity dinner is organised people should pay for the event but not attend."

He stressed that the most important change to take place this year was that the responsibility of the event would lie with the President, meaning the event would be strengthened for years to come.

"I think it's good to change and innovate and it's also good to challenge people. But this has nothing to do with morals or principles. I hate it when people say it's immoral to win a prize if you make a donation," he said.

Ashley Galea, who was in charge of the activities of last year's event on behalf of television production company Take Two, said this was what he had hoped for all along.

He called himself "the brains" behind last year's L-Istrina and said his plan was to create an entertaining television show where participants had to get involved in competitions to win prizes rather than a simple lottery prize-giving ceremony.

"To do this now is disgusting because it was my idea all along and now they're making it out as if it was their own after they put us off air last year."

Mr Galea added there was "no way" this year's telethon would get close to any figure from previous years. "But it will test the giving nature of the Maltese, to give with their hearts because they see the poor person on their screens and not because there's an iPhone to be won. If it's done correctly it will work but, from what I've seen, there aren't the brains to do it," he said.

Gordon Pace, who was one of the organisers in 2007, said he agreed 100 per cent with the decision.

"I'd rather collect less money but strengthen the value of charity," he said, explaining that when people gave out of generosity they were more likely to also give more than just money.

Last year, he criticised the organisation for "raping the value of L-Istrina". He had said that after he organised the event he was left with an "ugly" feeling inside.

"I felt like I sold my soul. It stopped being about giving and started to be about how much people could win and a race to top last year's figure."

He said this year's event was a test for the Maltese but he was confident they would pass since a huge amount of money had been raised in other charity shows where no prizes were handed out.

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