Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is this year's patron
Konstanz, October 5th, 2022
The “Konstanzer Konzilspreis – Award for European Encounters and Dialogue” will be given to PD Dr Sigrid Rieuwerts (Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz). Dr Rieuwerts has been nominated laureate in 2021, at the suggestion of Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, current patron of the "Konzilspreis". Due to the Covid pandemic, the award ceremony has not yet been able to take place. With the award ceremony, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the board of trustees “Konstanzer Konzilspreis” honour Dr Sigrid Rieuwert’s remarkable commitment to numerous cross-border education projects, cultural relations as well as her promotion of tolerance and intercultural understanding. Scotland’s first female First Minister is a convinced European herself as well as an 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."
Lord Mayor Uli Burchardt is very pleased with the fact that two such excellent advocates of European values as Dr Sigrid Rieuwerts and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon could be enlisted to support the “Konzilspreis”: "I am greatly honoured to welcome Dr Sigrid Rieuwerts in Constance and to pay respect to commitment of both of them. Especially in view of current events in Europe we need people who campaign for the European Community wholeheartedly and with great passion.”
The award ceremony of the fourth “Konstanzer Konzilspreis” for Dr Sigrid Rieuwerts will be a public event. It will take place on Saturday, October 15th, at Steigenberger Inselhotel in Constance. Due to the limited number of seats, anyone wishing to attend is requested to register until October 10th via konzilspreis@konstanz.de. Furthermore, the event will be broadcasted via livestream at www.konstanz.de/konzilspreis. For this, no registration will be necessary.
The laureate
PD Dr Sigrid Rieuwerts has been a lecturer on English Literature and Culture at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz since 1997. She teaches and researches in the area of Scottish history, culture, and literature. In Scotland, her research work has won numerous awards, including a Fellowship of the Royal Society in Edinburgh. The Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz appointed her Commissioner for Scotland 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 translation projects with Scottish artists and
writers invited by the Cultural Foundation of Rhineland-Palatinate; she also launched the cultural webinar series "Reading Scotland", meant to encourage a dialogue between researchers, creative artists and an interested public in Scotland and Germany.
Dr Sigrid Rieuwerts was also significantly involved 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 program in cooperation with the German Consulate General in Edinburgh. Every year, this program places approximately 25 German student teachers as language assistants in Scottish schools and invites Scottish students to Rhineland-Palatinate for teaching practice or to participate in projects promoting diversity, tolerance, and inclusion. In addition, Dr Rieuwerts and her team organize numerous
intercultural projects such as "Global Outreach – Global Citizen” (GO) - programmes for Scottish and German students concerned with socio-political issues such as migration or climate change.
The “Konstanzer Konzilspreis”
By awarding the “Konstanzer Konzilspreis”, the City of Constance and the Constance Council Association demonstrate their commitment to the European ideal and carry on the idea of the 600th anniversary of the Council of Constance. The "Konstanzer Konzilspreis for European Encounters and Dialogue" is awarded to individuals or initiatives, who have made a special commitment to a Europe of encounters and contributed to the dialogue on Europe and its future. The award has been initiated by a board of trustees committed to Europe, comprising personalities from politics, business, and society.
The patron model of the “Konstanzer Konzilspreis” provides for a Europe-wide known patron to nominate a laureate committed to European encounters and dialogue, thus introducing him or her to a wider public. The Constance Council Prize is endowed with EUR 10,000 and has been awarded every two years since 2015. The prize money is provided by the Konzilsverein. The laureate will also be presented with a sash woven from five ribbons to symbolize the diversity of Europe. The sash is a unique specimen: for each award ceremony, both the respective names of patron and laureate are to be embroidered on it; thus the ribbon will by and by turn into a testimony to European commitment.
For more information please see www.konstanz.de/konzilspreis and www.konzilsverein.de.
The previous patrons and award winners:
2019: First President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy awarded Mohamed El
Bachiri.
2017: Reinhard Cardinal Marx awarded Prelate Dr Peter Klasvogt.
2015: Writer Adolf Muschg awarded theater-maker Milo Rau.
Press contact:
Mandy Krüger
Stadt Konstanz | Pressereferat
Tel. +49 7531 900-2612
mandy.krueger@konstanz.de | www.konstanz.de