Bocholt receives IPZ European Prize 2025

The city of Bocholt has been awarded the IPZ Europe Prize 2025 in the category "City Partnership Project". The prize was awarded on 1 May 2026 as part of the International Children's and Family Festival at the LWL-Museum Textilwerk Bocholt. Mayor Christian Mangen accepted the award from Anna Noddeland, Managing Director of the Institute for European Partnerships and International Cooperation (IPZ).

Award for active partnerships

The prize was awarded for the event series "80 Years of Peace and Freedom", with which Bocholt, together with guests from the partner and friendship cities, sent a strong signal for encounters, remembrance and European understanding in May 2025. "This award is a great honour for all those who bring our town twinning partnerships to life - in associations, schools, initiatives, administration and politics", said Mayor Christian Mangen. "Peace and freedom cannot be taken for granted. They grow where people meet each other."

Anna Noddeland particularly recognised the innovative approach of Bocholt's European work. "We find it particularly commendable that the city of Bocholt is constantly reinventing its town twinning programmes," she said. "With its local foreign policy, Bocholt builds bridges on which understanding grows, misunderstandings are reduced and peace is strengthened." Also on stage were the European Commissioner Petra Taubach, EUROPE-DIRECT Director Sonja Wießmeier and Juan Lopez Casanava, Chairman of the Committee for Equal Opportunities and Integration. The presentation was moderated by Martin Schmidt, Scientific Officer at Textilwerk Bocholt.

Europe at the centre of the family festival

The International Children's and Family Festival provided a fitting setting for the award ceremony: Under the motto "Bocholt's recipe for Europe", cultural associations, organisations and initiatives presented the diversity of the city. The IPZ award follows on from numerous highlights in the series of events, including the cross-border exhibition "Freedom Stream", the ceremony to mark the end of the Second World War, the inauguration of the Akmenė Promenade and meetings with delegations from Belgium, France, Great Britain, Lithuania, Ukraine and the Netherlands.