This year, three young women will be awarded with the DAAD Prize 2021 and the “Geisenheimer Preis für ehrenamtliches Engagement”. We are happy to invite you to the award ceremony on December 15, starting at 3:15 p.m. via Big Blue Button. The award ceremony will take place during the lecture "Operatives Marketing" by Prof. Hanf (to the virtual event).

Below, we'd like to give the winners the opportunity to introduce themselves:

“I'm Ivana, born and raised in South Africa by Bulgarian parents and I'm a 5th semester International Wine Business student. Being involved within the community with things such as volunteer work or outreach programmes has been a part of my life since I was 13. It feels like such a natural extension to my life, that whenever I get the opportunity to be involved with certain projects, I try my best to participate. In particular, I am happy to have been involved with my colleagues in online meetings last semester when the lock down was tougher and the winter weather made it difficult to do things outside. I think it helped some of us get through it easier. And it's the small things like that, that have a big impact and show the importance of being involved within your community - no matter how big or small we think our involvement is.” – Ivana Garvanski

“I am Liisa from Finland. I study International Wine Business in the 5th semester in Geisenheim. Studying wine business had been a dream of mine for many years and it finally came true a couple of years ago. During the past year me and my fellow students have been running voluntarily organized online meetings for the international students in Geisenheim. The online meetings offered a great chance for the students to stay connected with each other and was a good opportunity for the first-semester students to get assistance with the start of their studies. There were different themes for meetings and during last spring we organized two online wine tastings with wineries from Rheinhessen and Rheingau. Being committed has been always meaningful to me, but it has become even more relevant while studying abroad during the time of a global pandemic. Us internationals are far away from home for long periods of time, so the support, friends and connections that we make here in Germany become vital to us. With our own actions and active commitment, we can create change in the social environment that we are in.” – Liisa Muikku

“My name is Natia Beboshvili. I am from Georgia and I came to Geisenheim as an Erasmus student four years ago and I liked it here so much that I decided to apply again. I won the prize for my social engagement in the community I lived in. For 4 years, I helped a person with disabilities several times a week with different chores such as shopping, doctor's appointments, and attending different cultural events, such as theatres and cinemas, wine tastings, book clubs, music festivals, etc. This work has benefitted me in so many ways. I have grown as a human being, developed skills I would not have anywhere else, easily blended in German culture, and most importantly, looked at life from a different angle.” – Natia Beboshvili