Our village has a future: Award for Elleringhausen
In 2024, the regional decision of the "Our village has a future" competition took place, in which the villages of Twistetal-Elleringhausen and Diemelstadt-Wrexen from Waldeck-Frankenberg took part. The evaluation region comprised the districts of Marburg-Biedenkopf, Waldeck-Frankenberg and Werra-Meißner. All participating villages presented themselves to the jury with great commitment and dedication.
According to District Administrator and Head of Village and Regional Development Jürgen van der Horst, all the participating villages were winners, as the local community and sense of togetherness were strengthened through participation and the villages had invested in their future. Elleringhausen had also achieved a concrete success: In addition to 4th place with prize money of 2,000 euros, the village received a special prize of 1,000 euros for the project "January, February, March, April - TSV never stands still". In this project, TSV organises an activity for children and families for each month of the year that corresponds to the time of year and includes elements of exercise.
First place in the regional competition went to Vierbach (prize money of 5,000 euros), municipality of Wehretal, which also received a special prize of 1,000 euros for the "Children's Nature Gymnastics" project. Roßbach (prize money 4,000 euros), town of Witzenhausen, followed in 2nd place, ahead of Retterode (prize money 3,000 euros), town of Hessisch Lichtenau, in 3rd place. "Wrexen can be proud of its certificate and the acknowledgement of its successful participation," said District Administrator van der Horst, who was delighted with the village and congratulated the two Waldeck-Frankenberg towns on their great success.
"Our Village has a Future"
he Hessian village competition is organised every three years in coordination with the national competition. There are three levels - the regional competitions (district level), the state competition (state level) and the national competition (national level). Depending on the number of participating villages, regions are formed from several districts for the regional finals; in Hesse in 2024, there were seven regions in which 85 villages had registered.
The state competition will then take place in summer 2025, in which the first two places/winning villages from the regional finals will take part. The state winners will have the opportunity to take part in the national competition in 2026. Villages with up to 3,000 inhabitants or communities of neighbouring villages with a total of up to 3,000 inhabitants can take part.
The competition is looking for villages that ensure that their place is and remains both attractive and worth living in. Civic engagement is at the centre of the competition. The guidelines are
- Our village is a good place to live; a stimulus for the economy and infrastructure,
- Our village promotes cohesion; ideas and projects for social interaction,
- Our village is fit for the future; dealing with challenges in the context of democracy, climate change and civil society.
The evaluation is carried out by an evaluation committee; in addition to the progress made in the development of the village, it primarily assesses the commitment of the village community. Among other things, projects and initiatives initiated and implemented by the village community or in which the village community has been involved are also considered. In addition to the overall impression, three assessment areas make up the final result:
- Building culture, nature and the environment;
- Infrastructure and economic initiatives
- social commitment and village cultural activity.