The Pavel Koutecký Award is one of the most prestigious awards for documentary films and is intended for emerging documentary filmmakers. It is an award for the best Czech documentary film of the previous year and is presented in two competition categories – short documentary film and feature-length documentary film.

PAVEL KOUTECKÝ AWARD FOR FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY by a Czech director or produced in the Czech Republic is awarded to the film's director and comes with a cash prize of CZK 50,000.

PAVEL KOUTECKÝ AWARD FOR SHORT DOCUMENTARY by a Czech director or produced in the Czech Republic is awarded to the director of the film and comes with a cash prize of CZK 25,000.

The award has been given since 2007 in honor of the late director Pavel Koutecký. Between 2018 and 2024, the Pavel Koutecký Award was closely linked to the ELBE DOCK IFF, where it was also presented. In 2025, it moved back to Prague, which also brought with it a change in date to February and an expansion of the supporting program, which now includes workshops for teachers and film school students.

The winning films are selected by a jury composed of prominent figures in cultural life with a reach beyond the film sphere. In the past, the jury has included, for example, journalist and screenwriter Ondřej Štindl, literary critic and journalist Jiří Peňás, dramaturge of the Jeden svět festival Zuzana Raušová, journalist and screenwriter Irena Hejdová, playwright, screenwriter, and director Petr Zelenka, animated film producer Barbora Příkaská, director and cinematographer Miroslav Janek, writer Radka Denemarková, theater director Jana Svobodová, director Radim Špaček, writer Jaroslav Rudiš, writer Petra Hůlová, anthropologist Sara Polak, actor and director Jiří Havelka or director Drahomíra Vihanová. In recent years, representatives of the younger generation have also begun to appear on the jury, such as journalist Janek Rubeš, artist Kateřina Šedá, performer Kamil Bartošek (Kazma), director Ivan Zachariáš, moderator Emma Smetana, artistic director of the Signal Festival Richard Loskot, film editor Marek Kráľovský, director Michal Hogenauer, screenwriter Štěpán Hulík, and the wife of a film critic. Ukrainian artists Alexandra Bryksa, Marharyta Golobrodska, Alexandr Kozlov, and Olga Krykun were also members of the jury. Last year's jury included director Markus Krug, Moving Station founder Roman Černík, traveler and writer Eva Kubátová, and deputy director of the Nad Kavalírkou High School Jan Novák.