RTL presented 4th “Commit Awards For Integration”

On Monday RTL Television presented this year’s “Commit Awards for Integration” in Berlin. Besnik Salihi from Wolfenbüttel won the media award in the student category, which was presented for the fourth time this year.

The 19-year-old beat the seven other candidates who had made the final selection with his short film “Mein Traum” (“My Dream”). Besnik’s film was about an unusual project he initiated as part of his technical college entrance qualification while he was an intern at the “Jugend, Soziales, Sport e. V.” (Youth, Social, Sports Association) voluntary agency in Wolfenbüttel: together with street dance friends Besnik, originally from Kosovo, taught a group of elderly ladies his most popular breakdance moves. The student awards were presented by Peter Kloeppel, Editor-in-Chief of RTL Television, and presenters Nazan Eckes (RTL Television) and Nina Moghaddam (Super RTL), who formed the celebrity jury alongside German national football team star Cacau and the singer Adel Tawil.

Kloeppel then presented the first “Commit Award” for Young Journalists to Veronica Frenzel, Sabina Karasin and Charlotte Radziwill from the German School of Journalism in Munich. Their documentary short film “Das bayerische Lampedusa – Schöllnstein in Niederbayern” investigated why integration cannot work in the Lower Bavarian town of Schöllnstein where 70 local residents live alongside 90 asylum seekers. There is no meaningful contact between the two groups, nor is it encouraged by politicians, as the refugees’ residence status has not been verified – an unsatisfactory situation for both sides.

State Minister Professor Maria Böhmer, the German government’s delegate for migration, refugees and integration, also attended the ceremony. She has been patron of the “Commit Awards” since 2008. “I am thrilled by the overwhelming response to the ‘RTL Commit Awards’,” she said. “This shows once again that integration is the number one issue of the future among young people. We all benefit when everyone, regardless of their background, is committed to a good working relationship. Integration lives by participation.”

The “Commit Awards” ceremony marks the official start of a week of themed news and magazine programmes on RTL. For the next few days the morning news programmes “Punkt 6” and “Punkt 9”, the midday news “Punkt 12”, the main news programme “RTL Aktuell” and the nightly news “RTL Nachtjournal” as well as the magazine programmes “Explosiv”, “Exclusiv”, “Extra” and “Stern TV” will run reports and features about the current level of integration in Germany and cover the issue from different angles.

During the awards ceremony Peter Kloeppel presented the RTL ad campaign, “Sag’s auf Deutsch” (“Say it in German”). This autumn, various celebrities with an immigrant background, including presenter Nazan Eckes, world champion boxer Wladimir Klitschko and SPD politician Lale Akgün, will promote learning German. Kloeppel: “Successful integration only works if people have the right language skills. Language is the most important element of communication. RTL’s programmes are watched by many people with immigrant backgrounds. At the same time, many people with immigrant backgrounds work with us, both in front of and behind the camera, who have successfully integrated. Without them learning the German language that would not have been possible.”

RTL Television has sponsored the “Commit Awards” annually since 2008. It is aimed at encouraging students across Germany to take a filmic approach to the subject of integration. This year 120 storyboards were received – more than ever before. Following a preliminary selection process the best eight were instructed in the basics of TV journalism at an RTL Television weekend workshop at the RTL School of Journalism in May. The young filmmakers then turned their concepts into finished films with the help and support of professionals at RTL Television. All eight finalists’ student entries and the young journalists’ top three short films may be viewed at www.rtlcommit.de.