If you think that Italians abroad are completely forgotten by the Motherland, you will have to change your mind, at least if you are from the city of Berlin. In fact, the tenth edition of the award falls this year Italian of the year. An award established by Com.It.Es (Committee of Italians Abroad) and aimed at promoting recognition of a compatriot and a compatriot who have contributed to the development, culture and enhancement of being Italian in the territory of the District of the Com. It.Es of Berlin.
Since 2006, those two personalities (a man and a woman) have been identified who have promoted Italianness in all possible sectors: from the artistic to the entrepreneurial, passing through the sports or linguistic one.
Requirements
The important thing for the candidate is to be of Italian nationality, to be at least 18 years old and to work, both individually and in a group, in the territory of Berlin or in the surrounding areas, including Brandenburg, Saxony, Upper Saxony and Thuringia.
Candidates may have completed their training course at an Italian or foreign institute, and preferably have exhibited any works in a gallery, in a public or private museum, cultural center or in any other official structure. For the figure of writer, journalist and the like, however, it is important to have publications in print or recognized sites.
Candidate notifications can be sent starting from July until 31 October 2016 to Com.It.Es in Berlin (Sybelstraße 39, 10629 Berlin) or via email to the address [email protected], and must include the name of the candidate, a direct contact, the reasons for the merit and a short biography, but able to reconstruct the history. It is also possible to make more than one report provided that the guidelines mentioned above are respected.
The nominations will be collected by the promoter of the award which will deliver them to a commission specialized in examining them. Subsequently, a final ranking will be formulated and the assignment of the two titles by the end of November. Instead, it will be necessary to wait for the first months of next year for the award ceremony.
Italian award of the year
In 2015 the winner who won the prize was the freelance journalist Mauro Mondello, born in Messina in 1982 and collaborator with newspapers such as La Repubblica, Avvenire, Panorama, Vita, Rai and L'Espresso. The work that allowed him to win the title of Italian of the year was Lampedusa in Berlin. The story of the migrants and refugees of Oranienplatz told through a documentary.
The winner, on the other hand, was Sestilia Bressan born in 1945 in Civitanova Marche Alta. Volunteer of the Italian Catholic Mission in Berlin, she moved to Berlin in 1967 working in the Langenscheidt Buchbinderei company for more than 30 years. She has always been dedicated to assisting the terminally ill, the elderly and the needy in Berlin hospitals. His commitment has always also been addressed to compatriots in difficulty and to the assistance of relatives of patients in need of an organ transplant.
In short, the beautiful stories that concern us are many and it is a source of great pride to know those who, despite all the difficulties, manage to dedicate their lives to helping others.
