Vote Now for German of the Year Abroad 2024 Finalists

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Four Global Finalists Vie for German of the Year Abroad Title

The "German of the Year Abroad" award is being held for the fourth time in 2023. Organized by German-language media worldwide, it has become the most prestigious international competition by and for Germans living abroad. The focus is not on beauty but on cultural engagement and dedication.

This year, four finalists have made it to the last round: a German-Ukrainian, a German-American, a German-Canadian, and an Alsatian from France.

If you have a favorite, simply send a message with the first name and country of your chosen candidate to [email protected]. Voting runs until September 20. Anyone from anywhere in the world can cast their vote. The candidate with the most votes wins, and the results will be announced at the end of September.

Meet the Four Finalists:

Diana (Ukraine) A German-Ukrainian from Mukachevo (Munkatsch), a city in western Ukraine that has so far been spared from the war.

The Transcarpathian region, where Mukachevo is located, has been home to a significant German-speaking community for nearly 300 years, originally settled by migrants from Franconia. The city has its own cultural center, founded by Diana's grandmother. Diana directs the center's award-winning German-language girls' choir, Singende Herzen ("Singing Hearts"), which has performed internationally. Beyond preserving her ancestors' language through the choir, she also works as a German teacher. However, the future of the German cultural center in Mukachevo is uncertain due to unresolved ownership issues. Nationwide, the war threatens the very existence of Ukraine's German minority. Many of the more than 30,000 German-Ukrainians have fled, and in some regions, German cultural centers have been completely destroyed by shelling.

Irmgard (USA) A founding member of the Society for Contemporary American Literature in German and editor of TRANS-LIT2, the only U.S. journal dedicated to modern German-language literature. Born in Silesia, Irmgard emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1963, where she studied German philology.

For decades, she worked as a university lecturer and professor of German language and literature, most recently at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, where she remains active in the local German club. Her passion for her native language led her not only to advance German studies and train countless German teachers but also to write her own poetry and prose in German.

German is more alive in the U.S. than many realize. Around 100 German-language magazines, newsletters, and newspapers are published there, including the world's oldest German-language magazine and weekly newspaper. Over 50 million Americans have German ancestry—the largest ethnic group in the country, far outnumbering those of Irish, Mexican, or English descent. About 10 percent of German-Americans—among them Sandra Bullock, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Kirsten Dunst—still speak or understand German. In states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, German can often be heard on the streets, particularly among the Amish, who originally emigrated from southwestern Germany and continue to use their traditional dialect in daily life.

Heidi (Canada) A native of Nuremberg, Heidi has lived in Canada since 1961 and has been a presenter at the German-language radio station RADIO HERZ in Waterloo, near Toronto, for 25 years. The station was founded by her life partner, Paul, and the two run it alongside a team of dedicated volunteers. Initially, the station broadcast German music via antenna, cable, and satellite across the Greater Toronto Area, home to a large German-speaking community and several towns founded by German settlers.

For years, German-language programming has been broadcast over the internet to reach the more than three million people of German descent living across Canada. German-Canadians form the country's third-largest population group, after those with British and French ancestry. In some areas where German-speaking Mennonites live in concentrated communities, German remains an everyday language to this day. However, the future of Radio Herz—a unique radio project featuring request shows, interviews with German schlager singers, and live events in German-Canadian clubs—is now at risk. Heidi and Paul, who have long run the station, can no longer manage the workload due to their age, and successors are urgently needed.

Manon (Alsace, France) A trained German teacher, Manon spent five years working at bilingual primary schools in Alsace before shifting her focus in 2022 to private instruction in the Alsatian dialect. To teach children the language in a playful, engaging way—and to rekindle their interest—she created two regional characters, Hafele and Storichele, inspired by local traditions. A bilingual children's book featuring these award-winning figures is set to be published soon. Beyond teaching, Manon is active as an actress and author for a German-dialect theater group. Growing up, French was a foreign language to her; at home, her parents, whose families had lived in the region for generations and had German roots, spoke only Elsässerditsch (Alsatian German).

Despite being the largest German-speaking minority in Europe—with over one million speakers in eastern France—the Alsatians receive little recognition or support from either the French or German governments. To this day, Paris has refused to ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. As a result, Alsatians face far greater challenges than German minorities in Romania or Hungary.

Media outlets and schools that operate entirely in standard German were once banned and continue to face significant obstacles or outright suppression. Protests persist against the forced integration of Alsace into the predominantly French-speaking Grand Est ("Greater East") super-region.

Björn Akstinat, head of the Network of German-Language Media Abroad (IMH-Internationale Medienhilfe) and the mind behind the initiative, explains:

"This competition aims to honor the contributions of women within German communities and minorities worldwide while encouraging their involvement in German cultural and media institutions. Women remain underrepresented in many of these organizations. Another key goal is to raise awareness in Germany about the rich cultural heritage and traditions of Germans abroad—a topic rarely addressed in schools and universities from Flensburg to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. In the first round, a Hungarian German won the most votes; the second time, a Romanian German took the title, and in the third, a Namibian German claimed the award. The Stiftung Deutsche Sprache (German Language Foundation) supports this special initiative."

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