Award ceremony of the “Konstanzer Konzilspreis” postponed to 2022
The event planned for 10 December has been cancelled due to the current pandemic situation
(Constance, December 2021)
The "Constance Council Prize. Prize for European Encounters and Dialogue" will be awarded in 2021 to Prof. Dr Sigrid Rieuwerts from the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. With this award, the Board of Trustees of the Constance Council Prize, at the suggestion of this year’s patron, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, honours Dr Sigrid Rieuwerts’ remarkable commitment to numerous cross-border educational projects and cultural relations as well as the promotion of tolerance and intercultural understanding. Scotland's first female First Minister is herself a convinced European and advocate of these European values.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said:
“So many individuals and organisations are doing excellent work to promote European engagement and unity, which made choosing a winner immensely challenging.
“Dr Rieuwerts’ work to promote student exchange, particularly through the excellent GET-SET-GO scheme, has made a significant difference to the lives of young people in Scotland and Germany.
“Freedom and human dignity are both core values of the European Union, which the Scottish Government shares intrinsically. They are inherent in Dr Rieuwerts’ efforts to promote cross-border culture through the Scotland Hub in Mainz and to help German and Scottish students engage with refugees and embrace the opportunities and challenges Europe has to offer.”
The 2021 recipient of the "Constance Council Prize" has been a lecturer in the English Department at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) since 1997 and her focus in teaching and research is primarily on Scottish history, culture and literature. Dr Rieuwerts’ research has received several awards in Scotland, including a Fellowship of the Royal Society in Edinburgh. She was appointed “Commissioner for Scotland” by Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in 2020. She founded the "Scotland Hub" at JGU, a platform to promote German-Scottish relations and the understanding and appreciation of Scotland's history, culture and languages in Germany. Among other things, Dr Rieuwerts has taken on the supervision and management of a translation project with Scottish artists and writers (invited by the Cultural Foundation of Rhineland-Palatinate), and launched the cultural webinar series "Reading Scotland", which facilitates a dialogue between researchers, creative artists and an interested public in Scotland and Germany.
Dr Rieuwerts was also instrumental in the signing of the partnership agreement on education, science and culture between Scotland and Rhineland-Palatinate in March 2021. As early as 2012, she initiated the GET-SET-GO programme in cooperation with the German Consulate General in Edinburgh. This places around 25 student teachers as German language assistants in Scottish schools each year and invites Scottish students to Rhineland-Palatinate to participate in school placements or projects promoting diversity, tolerance and inclusion. In addition, Dr Rieuwerts and her team organise numerous intercultural projects such as "Global Outreach - Global Citizen" (GO-) programmes for Scottish and German students dealing with socio-political issues such as migration or climate change.
"I am also very pleased on behalf of the City of Constance that we have been able to win Dr Sigrid Rieuwerts and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as two outstanding personalities and committed advocates of European values for the Council Prize. It is a great honour for me to welcome both of them to Constance next year and to be able to honour their commitment," said Lord Mayor Uli Burchardt.
Due to the current pandemic situation and drastically increasing infection numbers, the organisers have decided to postpone the public presentation of the Council Prize until 2022.
Originally, the event was to take place on 10 December 2021. A new date for the award ceremony will be announced in due time.
For further information see: www.konstanz.de/konzilspreis.
The Constance Council Prize
The City of Constance and the Constance Council Association are committed to the European idea with the Constance Council Prize and continue the idea of the anniversary "600 Years of the Council of Constance". The "Konstanzer Konzilsspreis. Prize for European Encounters and Dialogue" is awarded to individuals or initiatives who have made a special commitment to a Europe of encounters and have contributed to the dialogue on Europe and its future. The prize was initiated by a board of trustees committed to Europe and comprising personalities from politics, business and society.
The sponsorship model of the Constance Council Prize provides for a Europe-wide known sponsor to nominate a prize winner who is committed to European encounters and dialogue, thus helping him/her to gain greater publicity. The Constance Council Prize is endowed with 10,000 euros and has been awarded every two years since 2015. The prize winner also receives a sash as a distinction, which is woven from five ribbons to symbolise the diversity of Europe. The sash is unique: the names of the sponsor and the laureate are embroidered on the occasion of each award, so that the ribbon becomes a testimony to European commitment over time.
The previous patrons and award winners:
2019 First President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy awards Mohamed El Bachiri.
2017 Reinhard Cardinal Marx awards Prelate Dr Peter Klasvogt.
2015 Writer Adolf Muschg awards theatre-maker Milo Rau.
Press Contact:
Mandy Krüger
Stadt Konstanz | Pressereferat
Tel. +49 7531 900-2612
mandy.krueger@konstanz.de | www.konstanz.de