Vice Rector for International Affairs Prof. Dr. Birgit Ulrike Münch, while attending the awards ceremony for the prize certificates, commented: “There is a long tradition at our University around presentation of the state awards and the DAAD Prize. Through these awards we recognize the achievements of early-career researchers active across the spectrum of academic fields. There is a common thread to all these papers in that each takes an international perspective; which is a high-priority matter for us as a university with a strong international orientation.”
The Queen’s Prize, endowed by Elizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, on the occasion of her visit to the University of Bonn in 1965, is awarded for outstanding achievement in the field of English studies. This year the Prize went to Carlotta Wolfram for her bachelor’s thesis entitled “‘Tag-Rag People’, Noble Romans and the ‘Fumbling Liberal’: Power Relations and Demagoguery in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar through the Ages.” Dr. Imke Lichterfeld, a reviewer for the thesis, characterized it as a readable, qualitatively strong and original paper that exhibits intellectual rigor and knowledge in the field.
The King of Spain’s Premio Rey de España award has been presented annually since 1992 for exceptional research in the field of Ibero-Romance philology. While awarded simultaneously to two respective winners in recent years, this year the Spanish Embassy endowed three prizes in view of the breadth of the field of excellent nominees. Marién Salinas Valera received an award for her master’s thesis entitled “La discriminación cultural en la literatura peruana: el concepto de ‘cholo’ en tres novelas representativas del siglo XX” in recognition of the solid methodological basis for the paper, the nuanced analysis presented therein and the strength of the paper’s arguments. In the opinion of reviewer Prof. Dr. Mechthild Albert it represents an all-round convincing work of academic research.
The second of the awards went to Alba Iglesias Martín for her master’s thesis entitled “La cortesía verbal en la correspondencia académica virtual. Estudio empírico y propuesta didáctica,” which reviewer Prof. Dr. Felix Tacke said is a fascinating academic work in a heretofore largely unexplored area that is nonetheless highly relevant in the day-to-day life of every student for the didactic methods and solutions it offers. According to Professor Tacke the paper represents a thoroughly convincing master’s thesis—formally, stylistically and otherwise.
The third award was earned by Luis Padberg for his master’s thesis entitled “Francisco Umbral as Chronicler of Late Francoism and the Spanish Transición: the Article Collections ‘Spleen de Madrid’ (1973), ‘Crónicas Postfranquistas’ (1976) and ‘Spleen de Madrid 2’ (1982).” Reviewer Prof. Dr. Mechthild Albert found that the thesis evidences detailed knowledge of the era in question, providing an unvarnished discussion of the period and an impressive analysis, in particular.
The Prix de la République française was awarded to Lisa Thomas for her bachelor’s thesis entitled “Stowaways in the Language? Archaisms in French Idioms from the Speaker’s Point of View.” Among other points, reviewer Prof. Dr. Felix Tacke found that the paper presents a highly innovative and impressively structured methodology for the sociolinguistic investigation of potential archaisms that far exceeds academic expectations for a bachelor’s thesis.
Lastly, the DAAD Prize of the German Academic Exchange Service was presented, the recipients of which are chosen for special academic achievement in connection with noteworthy dedication to social/societal and university-internal issues as foreign students at the University of Bonn. This year’s recipient was Relindis Ebesoh Nkeng, who demonstrated initiative when classes went online during the pandemic, organizing virtual get-togethers and study groups among other things for students in the first half year of their studies. She also created an informal dialogue forum for female physicians who started studying Global Health Risk Management & Hygiene Policies along with her in the 2020/21 winter semester as a way for them to share their experiences with the master’s degree program. Reviewer Prof. Dr. Walter Bruchhausen noted in particular how she managed to organize these activities from Cameroon, where she was located, which involved a major time commitment to conduct.
The awards ceremony was held in the University Grand Hall, with representatives of the embassies and the DAAD attending. These included Matthieu Osmont, who is the French Embassy Attaché for University Partnerships and Director of the Institut français in Bonn, Paul Smith, Director of the British Council in Germany, and Klaus Birk of the German Academic Exchange Service. Juan Manuel Vilaplana López of the Spanish Embassy in Germany furthermore sent a video message to the award winners.
Further information:
Vice Rectorate for International Affairs
Prof. Dr. Birgit Ulrike Münch
Prorektorat.internationales@uni-bonn.de
