More than 300 applications and two winners: The project “Digital learning for older people” and the “Mitwirk-O-Mat” are the winners of this year’s award for digital togetherness.
The prize, created by the “Digital for All” initiative, will be awarded on the occasion of the nationwide Digital Day, which takes place on June 18. The winning projects in the two categories “Digital Participation” and “Digital Engagement” will each receive 10,000 euros. This year, the prize, which has been awarded since 2020, is being sponsored exclusively by aconium GmbH for the first time.
aconium would like to congratulate the two winners! With them, the jury has selected projects that enable digitally disadvantaged groups to escape the margins and also use digital technologies for new ways of civic engagement.
The “Digital learning for older people” project run by the Bümmersteder SeniorenBüro and the Evangelical Lutheran parish of Osternburg in Oldenburg came out on top in the “Digital participation” category. The aim of the project is to enable people to learn digitally in a cross-generational approach and thus continue to actively participate in social life and stay in contact with others. In tandems with young families, senior citizens exchange ideas in order to move more independently in the digital world.
In the “Digital Engagement” category, the prominent jury awarded the “Mitwirk-O-Mat” from Lebendiges Lüneburg and Ehrenamtskoordination der Stadt Gütersloh. The app is intended to provide guidance on local volunteering and offer tangible access to it. Interested parties can answer questions via a web application so that suitable initiatives can then be suggested using the algorithm.
The two winning projects have been summarized in two short films by the “Digital for all” initiative. The creators of the projects, jury members, partners and, as sponsor of the coveted prize, aconium Managing Director Tim Brauckmüller have their say:
Award ceremony in the “Digital Participation” category:
Award ceremony in the “Digital Engagement” category:
More than 300 projects applied for the two categories. An independent jury of personalities from civil society, politics, business and religion decided on the winners. The jury members included inclusion activist Raul Krauthausen and Federal Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner. In numerous major cities in Germany, the winners were widely displayed in the cityscape at train stations, bus stops and on street furniture.
Digital Day, which took place for the first time in 2020 as a nationwide day of action, is intended to give digitization a voice with numerous events and activities throughout Germany, make it tangible, show ways to digital participation and offer space for discourse. Across Germany, 1,300 activities have already been registered by local associations, the public sector and companies. In addition, a large-scale poster campaign is currently underway at prominent locations in numerous German cities, including Berlin, Düsseldorf and Hamburg, to draw attention to digital participation. The Digital Day is sponsored by the “Digital for All” initiative, which brings together 27 organizations from the fields of civil society, culture, science, business, welfare and the public sector.