North Rhine-Westphalia Village Competition

The competition “Our Village hat Zukunft” NRW (formerly “Our village should be more beautiful”) has been held for more than 60 years and is one of the most important and popular citizens’ initiatives in North Rhine-Westphalia. The focus is on ecological, economic and social development as well as the commitment of people to their villages. The competition is based on a three-step procedure (district, state and federal competition). By winning, the villages qualify for the competition at the next level. Eligible for participation are geographically closed towns or parts of the municipality with predominantly village Character up to 3 000 inhabitants or communities of neighbouring villages with a total of 3 000 inhabitants. The participating villages are visited by an independent evaluation committee and evaluated in different areas. The Ministry of Agriculture awards the villages with gold, silver and bronze based on the jury’s evaluation. The winners for the respective years can be found in the files below.