289 charitable projects from Germany applied for the LupoLeo Award, the commitment prize from United Kids Foundations. Among the nominees for “Personality of the Year” are Max Giesinger, Thomas Müller and Jürgen Klinsmann. The jury includes Florian Festl, editor-in-chief of FOCUS Online.
Ten personalities from the fields of film and television, literature, sports and culture were selected because of their social commitment to children and young people. The list of nominees for the LupoLeo Award, the commitment award from United Kids Foundations, the children’s network of Volksbank BraWo, includes well-known names such as musician Max Giesinger, footballers Thomas Müller and Matthias Ginter and comedian Bülent Ceylan.
With the second edition of the LupoLeo Awards, the children’s network United Kids Foundations would like to honor non-profit actors in Germany who help children and young people to cope with the corona crisis. A total of 100,000 euros in funding will be distributed.
In the main category “Project Award” three charitable projects from the children and youth sector are awarded on the basis of a preliminary analysis by the neutral competence partner PHINEO gAg and the vote of the youth committee. The youth committee consists of young people between the ages of 14 and 17, who examine the applications under the chairmanship of 18-year-old Emily Dehning, who was already a member of the youth committee for the first edition of the award.
In the second category, “True Heroes”, a person who has particularly distinguished themselves through their voluntary work within one of the projects will be chosen based on the PHINEO analysis via a public vote on FOCUS Online.
In the third category, the “Personality of the Year” is sought. The award is given to a public figure who is committed to helping children and young people and promotes the development of children through their work or their appearance. Campino, the frontman of “Toten Hosen”, won the 1st LupoLeo Award in this category. The singer made the funding of more than 20,000 euros available to the Düsseldorf Children’s Aid Center Foundation and said: “It’s an honor for me to accept the LupoLeo Award. I hope I can continue to set an example for others, especially young people, with the way I stand up against racism, homophobia, right-wing violence, anti-Semitism and poverty.”
Together with PHINEO gAG, ten personalities were nominated who, due to their commitment to children and young people in the pandemic, are role models in public. This award comes with a grant of 20,000 euros for a charitable project of your choice. The youth committee makes the final decision on the award winner.
The soccer world champion of 2014 and multiple German champions and cup winners with FC Bayern Munich has four training videos with tips under the name “Digital Training”.
It is aimed at children and young people who are mourning the loss of a close relative or friend. In 2019 he received the Bavarian Order of Merit and in 2021 he was awarded the German Reading Prize for his commitment to promoting reading.
With the Matthias Ginter Foundation, the 2014 soccer world champion covered the costs for daycare emergency groups with 40 children from April to June 2020. Together with the AWO Freiburg, they have set this up in the day-care centers for children whose parents practice a so-called systemically relevant profession. Severely disabled children were also considered.
The former soccer world and European champion, soccer coach and official has implemented many offers for children during the lockdown 2020 with his Agapedia Foundation, including many creative videos with instructions for playing, cooking and handicrafts as well as circus and juggling sessions or stories read aloud online.
In addition, the foundation sent letters to the children with handicraft materials and was always in contact with the children via WhatsApp so that they could be reached quickly in the event of stressful family situations – especially in the evenings.
From 1998 to 2019, the German basketball player was active in the NBA for the Dallas Mavericks. In 2005 he established his own foundation, the Dirk Nowitzki Foundation. The goals are to promote youth welfare, sports, education and training. It supports socially disadvantaged children and adults and has been awarding an annual prize worth 30,000 euros since 2012, with which it recognizes the commitment of projects and organizations in connection with children and young people.
The movement is of great importance to Nowitzki. Therefore he is involved as an ambassador of the charity run step4help of the fit4future foundation Germany to generate funds for exercise projects for children and young people.
The German Olympic long jump champion spends her free time helping children of primary school age. She wants to pass on some of her energy, her optimism, her passion for nature and our planet. With the Starkmacher e.V. association, the German Sportswoman of the Year 2021 has developed short online training sessions in which she takes the children with her every day in their movement training. In 2019 she also volunteered in her old elementary school for sports and games.
The German singer, songwriter and music producer hosted under the hashtag
All income generated by the song and the video goes to the initiative “RTL We help children e. V. – Together against Corona”. Giesinger has been an ambassador for the “Herzenssache” children’s charity since 2016, where he is committed to helping disadvantaged children and young people in his home country.
During the corona pandemic, the German science journalist (“mailab” on YouTube) and TV presenter on ARD and ZDF published regular videos on YouTube to explain the corona pandemic. The chemist, author and YouTuber, who has been a member of the Senate of the Max Planck Society since June 2020, has received many awards for this.
In 2020 she received the Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2021 she was u. a. was awarded the Grimme Prize for her Corona knowledge transfer in the category of journalistic achievement.
During the first corona lockdown, the journalist, moderator, author and web video producer started a video series entitled “The First Politics Lesson”. On his YouTube channel “MrWissen2go”, Drotschmann deals with current political and social issues and also regularly addresses the topic of Corona.
Drotschmann is a member of the non-partisan State Council for Digital Development and Culture, which advises the Rhineland-Palatinate state government on digital issues.
The television presenter of the programs “Wissen macht Ah” and “Sending with the Mouse” together with the WDR provides informative and entertaining info clips on the topic of Corona, which were shown before the daily program and on the “Maus” website. In the short video clips, he answers children’s questions about the corona virus in a few minutes in an easily understandable way and with simple means from the home office.
He was also part of the campaign “read live with…” by NDR and SWR and read children’s stories via live stream. Caspers stands for open-mindedness, curiosity about new things and serious information for children. In addition to various awards, he received the Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande in 2019 for his many years of work in imparting knowledge to children and young people.
With his foundation, which he founded in 2017, the comedian equipped the school-age young people from the Johann-Peter-Hebel-Heim in Mannheim with technical devices during the homeschooling period caused by the pandemic.
He is also committed to the Mannheim Aidshilfe, the local children’s hospice Sterntaler and various anti-racism projects, such as “All Kids are VIPs” and “Respekt! No place for racism”. As a reading ambassador for the Reading Foundation, he promotes reading in television spots, among other things.
This year, too, the project awards will be presented by a prominent jury. Under the chairmanship of Dr. Brigitte Mohn (Bertelsmann Foundation) will be Daniela Behrens (Social Minister of Lower Saxony), singer Peter Maffay, former ski racer Felix Neureuther, Dr. Eckart von Hirschhausen, actress Uschi Glas, Dr. Kerstin Loehr (editorial office Braunschweiger Zeitung), RTL moderator Wolfram Kons, Florian Festl (editor-in-chief FOCUS Online), Emily Dehning (spokeswoman youth committee), Annette Heuser (MD Beisheim Foundation), Linda Gugelfuss (Phineo gAG), Armin Maus (MD Autostadt Wolfsburg ), Jürgen Brinkmann and Robert Lübenoff (both initiators of the LupoLeo Awards) decide on the winners of the funding. The award ceremony will take place on November 19, 2022 in the Staatstheater Braunschweig.