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Double Prize for German Finalists

Olly Hopkirk and Adam WaltherThe German department celebrates a double victory this week, following the announcement that two of the department’s final-year undergraduates have carried off first and third prize respectively in a national essay competition.

Run by the German Academic Exchange Service, and sponsored jointly by the European Commission, the German Embassy London, Air Berlin, and the radio station Deutsche Welle World, the competition invited undergraduates and postgraduates in any discipline nationwide to submit pithy summaries of their advice to German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her term of office as EU President.

First prize went to Adam Walther (BA German with International Studies) for a satirical ‘Berlin declaration’ whose proposals included a Euroshop offering “special 50th anniversary grey suits” to sustain and guarantee popular support amongst the citizenry. Adam wins a placement with the Deutsche Welle World in Bonn.

Oliver Hopwood (BA French and German Studies), who won first prize in the competition’s launch year (2005) for an essay on contemporary Germany, ‘Don’t mention the war’, had to content himself this year with third place for his proposal that Frau Merkel adopt in her dealings with her European counterparts his recipe for ‘Sauer Kraut Uncordial’, a concoction inspired by a grumpy bus driver with whom Oliver tangled on a recent visit to Berlin.

Oliver’s reward is a return flight to Germany for two with Air Berlin, and both he and Adam will attend a prize-giving at the German Embassy in London in June 2007.