Winners 2021
“Can we overcome the world's many inequalities?” was the question that we asked the students who participated in the 16th and final edition of our very successful BHT-Sprachenpreis to address in their entries. As always, the Jury was extremely impressed by both the excellent language skills demonstrated in the essays submitted for the competition and the contestants’ proficiency during the follow-up interviews, as well as by the depth of the research they conducted. We are delighted to announce the following two winners of the 2021 edition:
· Lukas Prinz (1st place)/typo3/
In his highly insightful essay, Mr Prinz discusses a number of aspects that are relevant to the topic of (in)equality, from a range of interrelated socio-economic factors such as education, wealth and migration, through the tremendous challenges posed by climate change, to the issue of effective wealth distribution. He also discusses possible contributions that can be made by his own field of study - landscape architecture - which seems particularly suited to overcoming some of the inequalities caused by the climate crisis. As pointed out by the author, “Innovative design approaches that take into account citizen’s wishes and concerns can massively improve neglected neighbourhoods. Multifunctional spaces that improve both environmental issues and social issues are needed more and more in towns and cities”. Mr Prinz concludes his essay with a call for action, emphasising that “there is a need to fight inequality of any kind”.
· Theo Prill (2nd place)/typo3/
In his essay, Theo Prill discusses the intertwined concepts of inequality and injustice and examines a number of aspects related to the topic of the competition such as LGBTQI rights and equal rights and opportunities for men and women. Mr Prill argues that the individual’s personal experience and background can have an impact on their ability to notice inequality and he consequently identifies empathy as a key factor in overcoming it. Moreover, he argues that it is vital that “privileged people […] speak up and address these issues and try to support those that are not as privileged […]“. Mr Prill also points out that addressing the world’s many inequalities is a very slow process that involves “One step forward, one step back” and requires more action even in already liberal societies.
The winning entries can be found here.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Christian-Peter-Beuth Gesellschaft for sponsoring the 2021 edition of the event.
The Jury
Prof. Dr. Aleksandra Sudhershan
Vanessa Arnold, M.A.
