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Karl Zuhorn Prize: Münster residents and Nordstadt bloggers honored!
Julius Virnyi and the Nordstadtbloggers will receive the Karl Zuhorn Prize 2025 for outstanding cultural contributions in Westphalia.
Karl Zuhorn Prize: Münster residents and Nordstadt bloggers honored!
On July 8, 2025, the cultural scientist Julius Virnyi from Münster and the “Nordstadtblogger. Nachrichten aus Dortmund” were awarded the Karl Zuhorn Prize. This honor is awarded by the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe (LWL) and is endowed with 10,000 euros each. The celebratory award ceremony took place in the LWL Museum Schiffhebewerk Henrichenburg in Waltrop, where LWL Head of Culture Dr. Barbara Rüschoff-Parzinger presented the honors.
Julius Virnyi received the prize for his outstanding research on academic honors and name changes in historical everyday culture research. His research project deals intensively with the role of universities in society and the political context, especially in Westphalia. In his master's thesis entitled "Honored Folklore. Honorary Doctorates and Honorary Citizenship at the University of Münster 1922-1968" he created a comprehensive survey on this topic.
The Nordstadt bloggers
The “Nordstadtblogger” is an initiative that was founded in 2013 and has since included over 30 volunteers. They are characterized by their in-depth reporting on regional and historical topics. Your core team works on a voluntary basis and is supported by a large number of authors and photographers. So far, the Nordstadt bloggers have published several thousand posts that are free and publicly accessible.
Alexander Völkel, born in 1975, is the initiator of this project and acts as honorary editorial director. Dr. In her speech, Rüschoff-Parzinger praised the original contributions of both award winners to Westphalian regional studies and acknowledged their commitment and passion for research and reporting.
The Karl Zuhorn Prize
The LWL has been awarding the Karl Zuhorn Prize since 1979 to support both the promotion of young talent and voluntary research. The winners are proposed by the Council for Westphalian Regional Studies and decided by the LWL Cultural Committee. The prize aims to honor research projects that have a connection to Westphalia and to highlight their relevance to Westphalian regional studies and history.
The award is not only a sign of recognition for the two winners, but also an invitation to others to actively contribute to research into regional history. The diversity of previous award winners, such as the awards to Dr. Christof Spannhoff (2019) and Arnold Maxwill (2020), shows the wide range of topics and approaches in Westphalian cultural research that are recognized by this prize.