Cross-border photo competition "FRIEDEN - VREDE" officially concluded

Last Sunday, 21 December 2025, the award ceremony for the "FRIEDEN - VREDE" photo competition took place at the GrenzBlickAtelier gallery in Bocholt-Suderwick. As part of the event series "80 Years of Peace and Freedom", German and Dutch children and young people were honoured for their creative exploration of the theme of peace. An exhibition was opened to accompany the award, which can be viewed on selected dates in January.

Around seventy guests, including numerous children and young people with their parents and teachers, attended the closing event at the GrenzBlickAtelier. The competition was aimed at young people between the ages of 6 and 18 from Germany and the Netherlands, who were called upon to literally give peace a face. The response showed that the participants had intensively explored values such as cohesion, respect and equality, which presented the jury with the challenging task of selecting the winners from the numerous entries.

The deputy mayor of the city of Bocholt, Gudrun Koppers, and Anton Stapelkamp, mayor of the neighbouring Dutch municipality of Aalten, welcomed the attendees. In their speeches, both emphasised the great importance of peace and freedom in today's world. They then jointly presented the certificates and prizes to the winners. Individuals, school classes and groups aged 6 to 11 and 12 to 18 were honoured with first, second and third prizes in four categories.

A special highlight was the presentation of the "Dinxperwick Special Prize" by Werner Brand, Chairman of the Dinxperwick Citizens' Initiative. This award went to the Clemens Dülmer School from Bocholt and the Emmaschool from Winterswijk as a joint project. The award recognises the successful visualisation of the friendly relationship between the two neighbouring countries. Presenter Verena Winter hosted the programme, while Petra Taubach from the city of Bocholt coordinated the award ceremony.

Interested citizens will have the opportunity to view the results of the competition next month. The photo exhibition in the GrenzBlickAtelier gallery in the ps-raum, located at Bolandshof/Hahnenpatt 2 in Bocholt-Suderwick, will open its doors again on 11 and 18 January 2026. Access is possible from 14:00 to 17:00, admission is free and registration is not required.

Further information and pictures of the winners can be found on the website: https://dinxperwick.info/de/preisverleihung-eroeffnung-fotowettbewerb-frieden-vrede/

The initiator of this cross-border photo competition, Verena Winter, would like to thank all sponsors and co-operation partners. The photo project FRIEDEN -VREDE is organised by the citizens' initiative Dinxperwick e.V. together with the sponsors and cooperation partners EUREGIO, Förderkreis Deutsch-Niederländisches Jugendwerk and the city of Bocholt as well as the Gemeente Aalten, Stadtbibliothek Bocholt, De Bibliotheek Achterhoekse Poort, EUROPE DIRECT BOCHOLT and the German-Dutch network "Grenzhoppers". The project is financially supported by the European Union and the Interreg partners as part of the Germany-Netherlands Interreg programme.