At the beginning of the award ceremony, Helga Gelsmann-Kaspers, the first chairwoman of the Heimatfreunde, spoke a few words to those present and explained that the jury did not find it easy to award the first three places in view of the large number of entries. Nevertheless, it was necessary to adhere to the guidelines. The crowns had to be made from willow rods and decorated with oak leaves and natural flowers. The judges were looking for ingenuity, care and overall impression.
On behalf of her fellow jurors, Gelsmann-Kaspers also thanked the children for the numerous entries and encouraged them to take part again in the coming years to keep the custom alive.
She then handed over to Deputy Mayor Friedegunde Kamps, who thanked the previous speaker for the wonderful hospitality and the children for the beautiful crowns, before beginning the prize-giving ceremony.
Ena List, Jora List and third-placed Jannis, Lian and Mattis Flim received a voucher from the Neuenhaus advertising association. Nika Diekjakobs, Piet Jäger and Mathea Zwiens took second place and were honoured with a voucher from the Veldhausen advertising association.
The following children secured victory, which was rewarded with a voucher from the Neuenhaus advertising association: Jette Brünink, Sina Brünink, Béla Faber, Malia Faber, Elisa Konjer, Joris Konjer, Hannah Schroven as well as Mathis, Jonas and Malte Schrovenwever and Anton Wagner.
All children also received two free tickets for the Dinkelbad Neuenhaus. These were provided by the Wasser- und Abwasser-Zweckverband Niedergrafschaft (WAZ). The Neuenhaus joint municipality would like to express its thanks for the support. After the award ceremony, Kamps also thanked all participants and expressed the wish that there would be lively participation in the coming year.
The following picture gallery shows the three award-winning Pingste crowns.