Awards 2021
DAAD Prize for Intercultural Engagement
Jinan Sakaan, a student from Syria, was awarded a prize for her voluntary activities at FHWS and in Würzburg and the greater Würzburg area. She received the price which is endowed with 1,000 Euro and awarded annually by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
Born in 1998 in Aleppo, Syria, Jinan Sakaan and her family fled to Germany in 2015. Since 2019, she has been volunteering as a language and cultural mediator at the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband in Würzburg and surroundings. She is providing help in the form of translation and interpreting services for Arabic and German to facilitate the dialogue between authorities, institutions, and immigrants. Furthermore, during her studies in 2020 and 2021, she worked as an assistant in the Welcome Team for students with a refugee background.
The aim of the DAAD Prize is to give international students at German universities a face and to recognise them. Read further information on the DAAD Prize here.
FHWS graduate receives Bavarian Culture Prize
FHWS graduate Laura Siehler, who has already won an award, was presented with the Bavarian Culture Prize in the science category for her final thesis by the Bavarian Minister for Art and Science at the time, Bernd Sibler, and by Bayernwerk CEO Dr. Egon Leo Westphal. In her Master's thesis, the graduate of the FHWS Master's programme Brand and Media Management dealt with the topic "Podvertising and consumer behaviour. An empirical structural equation analysis on the influence of the credibility of podcasters" (podvertising refers to advertising in and with podcasts). The results convinced the jury of Bayernwerk and the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and Art. Previously, Laura Siehler had already been awarded the Alfred Gerardi Memorial Prize. Laura Siehler has already been awarded the Alfred Gerardi Memorial Prize.
Read further information in the Kulturpreis Bayern press release.
OPUS KLASSIK award for FHWS project "Mozart and AI"
Experiencing Mozart via an augmented reality app - with the project "Mozart and AI" scientists from FHWS and the University of Würzburg participated in the citizens' project "100 for 100" as part of the Mozart Festival Würzburg. The anniversary project of the city of Würzburg received the OPUS KLASSIK award in the category "Audience and Participation Projects". The app was developed at the Competence Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics CAIRO at FHWS under the direction of Prof. Dr. Frank Schleif. The award ceremony took place at a gala event in Berlin and was broadcast on ZDF. OPUS KLASSIK is a German music award that honours personalities and productions of classical music.
Read further information in the OPUS KLASSIK award press release.
Start-up Prize for "WeSort.AI"
The Würzburg start-up "WeSort.AI" was honoured with the Würzburg Start-up Prize, which is awarded annually by Würzburg AG. The master's students and graduates from FHWS, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg and Technical University Munich want to start a "Recycling Revolution" with their start-up. At the Founder's Award event, they convinced the jury with their business model and their software development for sorting waste even more cost-effectively, cleanly and with fewer staff. Founded in August 2021, they have access to a prototype hall in Schweinfurt as part of the FHWS EntrepreneurSHIP project with Chancen-Center Maintal.
A total of 14 young companies applied for the "Local Hero" and "Global Hero" prizes, six of them were nominated for the final. The jury as well as the audience gave their clear vote for the "Global Hero", endowed with 3,000 euros, to the seven members of "WeSort.AI".
Read further information in the press release on the Würzburg Start-Up Prize.
FHWS students honoured at Annual Multimedia Award 2022
The Faculty of Visual Design students Jana Braun and Max Seeger received two of the six talent awards of the Annual Multimedia Award 2022. In the categories "Digital Services", Apps, Tools, Voice User Interfaces, etc. Jana Braun convinced with her app "breeth".
Max Seeger won the category "xReality: AR, VR & MR" with "Everything is growing. Everything is math. The world is a formulary."
A total of 269 projects from agencies or companies and 46 projects from students were submitted for the Annual Multimedia Award 2022. 103 projects were awarded for their digital excellence: 18 in gold, 79 in silver and six for students in the special "Digital Talents" award.
More information can be found in the press release release for the Multimedia Award.
Andreas Schütz achieves 2nd place in the BayWISS award
FHWS doctoral student Andreas Schütz achieved the 2nd place in the BayWISS award 2021 for "outstanding or pioneering research achievement in the respective scientific field". The prize was awarded at the annual colloquium of the Bavarian Science Forum at the University of Bayreuth. In his doctoral project at FHWS, Andreas Schütz is working on the "Development of a method for raising employees' awareness to the topic of information security". Prof. Dr. Kristin Weber, director of the FHWS Business Information Systems bachelor's programme, and Prof. Dr. Dirk Riehle, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen Nürnberg, are supervising the cooperative doctoral thesis. Prof. Dr. Nicholas Müller, member of the FHWS Faculty of Computer Science and Business Information Systems, professionally supports the doctorate.
It is not the first award for the research group: One month ago, Tobias Fertig, also doctoral student at FHWS, achieved the second place in the pitch competition at the BayWISS cooperation meeting on digitalisation.
Read further information in the BayWISS award press release.
First place in ADC ranking for Faculty of Visual Design
In the creativity ranking of national higher education institutions by the Art Directors Club for Germany (ADC) FHWS shares the first place with the European branch of the Miami Ad School Hamburg. For the ranking, the universities were identified whose students participated most successfully in the creative club's young talent competition over the past three years. After FHWS and Miami Ad School Hamburg with 100 points each, the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim came in second with 89 points. The third place was achieved by Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University with 86 points.
For the eighth time in a row, the Art Directors Club for Germany provides a nationwide overview with the Creativity Ranking for higher education institutions on the award-winning work in the ADC Talent Competition - the industry's largest competition for young talent.
Read further information in the ADC press release.
Three design students honoured for poster ideas
39 students in the Faculty of Visual Design at FHWS worked on how to motivate teacher training students to participate in a stay abroad. In the end, three of them were honoured: Luca Bettinger with his “From Germany to World” design (500 euros of prize money), Jakob Weber with his “Travel” poster series (200 euros of prize money) and Magdalena Soetebeer with her “Wanderlust?” project (200 euros of prize money). The Pädagogische Austauschdienst (educational exchange service, PAD) of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder (KMK) Bonn called for the poster competition. This provides grants in the form of a foreign language assistance programme which is primarily aimed at teacher training students.
The posters should be displayed during the course of the next KMK session in Bonn in the former tram depot. FHWS will also present the exhibits in the summer at Sanderheinrichsleitenweg in Würzburg.
Three design students honoured for poster ideas
In the Faculty of Visual Design, 39 students worked on how to motivate teacher training students to participate in a stay abroad. In the end, three of them were honoured: Luca Bettinger with his “From Germany to World” design (500 euros of prize money), Jakob Weber with his “Travel” poster series (200 euros of prize money) and Magdalena Soetebeer with her “Wanderlust?” project (200 euros of prize money). The Pädagogische Austauschdienst (educational exchange service, PAD) of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder (KMK) Bonn called for the poster competition. This provides grants in the form of a foreign language assistance programme which is primarily aimed at teacher training students.
The posters should be displayed during the course of the next KMK session in Bonn in the former tram depot. FHWS will also present the exhibits in the summer at Sanderheinrichsleitenweg in Würzburg. Read further information in the press release on the poster competition.
Award-winning FHWS designers
The work of Julia Seitz and Anna Ficker (Faculty of Visual Design) won an award in the “Best Use of Creative Technology/Digital Services” category in the “Annual Multimedia Digital Talents Award 2021” competition. Projects relating to the pandemic were submitted this year.
Anna Ficker impressed with her “Global Health” project. Her interactive infographic shows the efficiency of the healthcare system in a country in comparison with other countries. Julia Seitz created an online tool called “Can’t touch this”. This shows how long the SARS-CoV-2 virus can survive on various surfaces such as copper, cardboard, plastic, steel and in the air under the influence of temperature and humidity.
The “AM Award”, which has been given out since 1998, gives students and young creatives the opportunity to present their project work, bachelor's theses or master's theses. More information can be found in the press release release about the AM Award.
Higher Education Teaching Certificate Awarded
Prof. Dr. Christian Kraus (Faculty of Business and Engineering) and Prof. Dr. Martin Storath (Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences and Humanities) received the Bavarian Higher Education Teaching Certificate from the Center of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (DiZ) due to their voluntary commitment. The certificate awarded by the DiZ, which covers at least 120 units of work and therefore at least 18 days of continuing education, covers the five topic areas of teaching and learning concepts, presentations and communication, testing, reflection and evaluation, and advice and support. The two professors completed this in their free time. A total of 31 lecturers at FHWS have now received this recognition.
The certificate was developed in 2006 by the members of the “ProfiLehre” (professional teaching) expert committee which is made up of higher education teaching and learning experts from Bavarian higher education institutions and the DiZ. The DiZ, with its headquarters in Ingolstadt, has set itself the goal of continually improving and developing teaching and learning at universities of applied sciences. Read further information on the Bavarian Higher Education Teaching Certificate in the DiZ press release.
Honoured for the best poster design
Lars Schrodberger, student in the Faculty of Visual Design, was honoured for his poster on the theme of “exchange educates”. This was evaluated by the 100 Beste Plakate e.V. (100 best posters) association. The work was the result of a collaborative project with the Pädagogischer Austauschdienst (educational exchange service) during the course of a technical internship at the FHWS Faculty of Visual Design. The aim: to motivate teacher training students to participate in a stay abroad as foreign language assistants through attractive posters.
600 participants took part in the competition with a total of 1,973 posters. The "100 best posters of the year – Germany Austria Switzerland” competition is considered to be one of the most important institutions in modern poster design. The 100 Beste Plakate e.V. association is committed to composition, graphics, design and the graphic arts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Please read further information in the press release “Competition for the 100 best posters”
Best video award for IDEE Institute
Researchers at the FHWS Institute of Digital Engineering (IDEE) have won the best video award at the international Human-Robot-Interaction (HRI) conference. In the InKoMo (interactive, collaborative assembly of complex components) project, professors Dr. Tobias Kaupp and Dr. Jan Schmitt and master's students Andreas Hillenbrand and Philipp Kranz are researching how people, robots and assistance systems can work together as well as possible in assembly. Precisely this was captured in a project video. In terms of content, it is about having people and robots assemble complex components together in an intelligent workplace and additionally supporting this process through an interactive projection system as an assistant.
HRI is a leading global robotics conference which is jointly organised by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
More information can be found in the press release release for the “Best Video Award”.
Award for outstanding international students
FHWS student Shruti Pradhan from India has received the “DAAD prize for outstanding international students”. The award, with a 1,000 euro prize, went to the Business and Engineering student on the basis of her excellent academic performance and her involvement in student life at FHWS. The student expressed her gratitude for the award in a festive setting at the online Christmas party for international first semester students on 15 December 2020.
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) supports international collaboration with government funding. Every year, therefore, the DAAD provides higher education institutions with funds to award a prize to outstanding international students.
More information can be found in the press release release about the DAAD pirze.
FHWS double degree student wins CIDD award
Our double degree student Thy Thi Van won the 1st prize of the Consortium of International Double Degrees (CIDD). Her three-minute video on her life and studies in Finland and Germany convinced the CIDD jurors. There, she shares her personal experiences with her double degree. She studies Business Administration at FHWS and, as an incoming student, at LAB University of Applied Sciences, Finland.
The Faculty of Economics and Business Administration and thus FHWS has been a member of the CIDD since 2019. Consisting of more than thirty higher education institutions throughout the world, it is one of the largest networks for establishing and developing international double degree programmes. In the course of CIDD's activities, two scholarships are awarded each year.
Read further information in the CIDD press release.
Student receives aed award
Theresa Rosa Schneider received a recognition award of the interdisciplinary, international young talent competition "neuland" for her "fonízeichen" concept. The student of the Faculty of Visual Design wanted to make automated voice services sound less dull. In written texts, punctuation marks and similar means help to visualise the content. By developing a so-called "paratextual" system of signs, i. e. text elements accompanying or complementing a text, the spoken language is to be enriched by the written language: By applying the so-called "fonízeichen" (foní signs) the written word is assigned a sound without being spoken.
Together with further 508 participants, the student applied at the Karl Schlecht Foundation and aed e.V., the association for promoting architecture, engineering and design in Stuttgart. The competition was launched for the eighth time. The jury selected a total of fifty award winners in the five categories Architecture + Engineering, Exhibition Design + Interior Design, Product Design, Communication Design, and Interaction Design.
Read further information in the aed press release.
"Virtual Aquarium" awarded
The FHWS student Maximilian Seeger has received the silver European Design Award in the category Student Projects 2021. Protecting fragile eco systems - this is the background the student of the Faculty of Visual Design used to develop his virtual aquarium named "EVERTHING IS GROWING. EVERYTHING IS MATH". The projects wants to show how much mathematics is involved in nature and to what extent natural processes can be understood and comprehended better through algorithmic simulations. In addition, it becomes clear how fragile eco systems are.
The European Design Award has been presented since 2007. Every year, a group of publishers, journalists as well as scientists meets to collect, assess and finally award the best examples of international communication design.
More information can be found in the press release release for the European Design Award.
Awarded with the "Dualissimo Prize"
As one out of five award winners from 130 applicants, Carolin Demar was awarded the Dualissimo Prize. She not only is a student of the Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at FHWS and does a vocational training to become a mechatronic technician at Preh GmbH at the same time, but she also is committed to voluntary work at the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund.
Together with vbw, the Bavarian Industry Association, and bayme vbm, the Bavarian Employers’ Associations for the Metalworking and Electrical Industries, "hochschule dual", the network for dual cooperative studies, honours excellent students of dual cooperative programmes at Bavarian higher education institutions by awarding the Dualissimo Prize. The prize is endowed with 3,000 euros.
Read further information in the “Dualissimo competition” press release.
FHWS student impresses with "My role model and I"
Julia Seitz, student in the Faculty of Visual Design of FHWS, was awarded the 3rd place in the "My role model and I" competition. The prize is endowed with 1,000 euros. Her second poster "When I'm grown up" will be part of the touring exhibition of Deutsches Studentenwerk (DSW). The student was supervised by Prof. Dr. Gertrud Nolte.
Which role models do students have today? This was the questions 462 design students from 52 higher education institutions asked themselves during the 35th poster competition by DSW with the topic "role models". 898 posters were submitted.
The DSW poster competition for design students is sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research; the Museum of Communication Berlin is a project partner.
Please read further information in the press release “My role model and I”.
Student of Industrial Mathematics at FHWS ranks second
The SKZ student Gerhard Dill won the 2nd place in the young talent competition by the association of material testing institutions VMPA. In his bachelor's thesis, he developed a new measuring system which is able to assess and improve the product quality of plastic components. The 23-year old student of Industrial Mathematics at FHWS won the jury over with his bachelor's thesis "Commissioning and optimisation of a microwave tomography system for 3D reconstruction of plastic components" that was supervised by the SKZ - The Plastics Center. Mr Dill dealt with the construction and commissioning of a microwave tomography for the 3D inline inspection of extruded plastic components: By this process, moulded parts are produced from thermoplastic material with the extruder. The systems helps to assess and improve the inline product quality. However, there is another advantage: Complaints can be reduced and thus a more economical and efficient production can be achieved.
Vogel Foundation presents digital award on FHWS anniversary
In 2021, the "Digital Award of FHWS", presented by the Vogel Foundation Dr. Eckernkamp, has been awarded for the first time on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of FHWS. It was awarded to an interdisciplinary joint project with the title "Digital Autonomous Data Acquisition and Its Concrete Application for the Prototype Development of a Rooftop Scout". Together with two student teams, three researchers from FHWS intend to compile a preliminary study with the help of this interdisciplinary project during the summer semester. Involved in the project are professors from three faculties: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Melzner, Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Prof. Dr. Nicholas Müller, Faculty of Computer Science and Business Information Systems, and Prof. Dr. Jan Wilkening, Faculty of Plastics Engineering and Surveying.
The Digital Award is endowed with 10,000 euros. The Vogel Foundation Dr. Eckernkamp was founded in 2000 by the Würzburg publisher Dr. Kurt Eckernkamp and his wife Nina Eckernkamp-Vogel.
For more information, please read the press release.
Award for "Asterix uff Meefränggisch"
The master's thesis written by Carena Barth, graduate of the Specialized Translation with Media Translation programme, was awarded by the FHWS association of friends "Gesellschaft der Förderer und Freunde der Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften Würzburg-Schweinfurt e.V.". In her work, the young researcher examined whether the latest Franconian version of the famous Asterix comic book is a piece of translation or transcreation, i. e. whether the three authors Gunther Schunk, Kai Fraass and Hans-Dieter Wolf just did a simple word by word translation from standard German into the lower Franconian dialect or whether they tried to adapt it to the target audience.
The master's thesis was supervised by Prof. Dr. Heike Elisabeth Jüngst in the Specialised Translation programme of the Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences and Humanities.
For more information, please read the press release.
FHWS receives multiple awards by the Art Directors Club
Students from the Faculty of Visual Design of FHWS were able to convince the jurors in the "Junior Talent Award" by the Art Directors Club (ADC): The young designers from Würzburg received four Golden Nails, two Silver Nails and two Bronze Nails in addition to six further awards. Golden Nails were awarded to Lea Wurthmann for her final thesis "A Scheme of Things", Sandra Dotou and Julia Sukop for their bachelor's thesis "Escape Racism International", Maximilian Seeger for his work "Everything is growing. Everything is Math", as well as Katharina Landisch and Annika Lotter for their book "Exploring restricted fields of vision".
ADC announced the competition in November 2020. For the 37th time, ADC were on the lookout for the most creative young talents from higher education institutions and agencies in German-speaking countries. Several top-class juries assess the submissions in the different categories and award the winners with the coveted Gold, Silver, and Bronze "Nails". The ADC award is considered one of the most important European awards in the communication industry.
For more information, please read the press release.