14 villages in competition: Who will win Our village has a future”?

14 villages in competition: Who will win Our village has a future”?

It starts in a few days! The “Our village has a future” competition starts on June 18, 2025, and the anticipation is great. As the Uelzen press reported, 14 villages from the districts of Uelzen, Harburg, Cuxhaven, Rotenburg/Wümme, Osterholz, Verden, Oldenburg and Wesermarsch were invited to the competition. These villages have previously qualified through local competitions and are now showing what they can do at the regional level.

The Office for Regional Development (ArL) Lüneburg will visit the villages and examine the attractiveness and quality of life on site. The focus is particularly on the involvement of the villagers in village development. It is interesting that the tours begin with the villages of Ostedt, Edendorf and Egestorf from the Uelzen and Harburg districts. Further stops are planned from June 23rd to 25th in the other districts, and on July 10th the grand finale will take place in Kirchboitzen, the winning village of the 2023 Federal Gold Prize.

Background of the competition

The “Our Village has a Future” competition has been taking place since 1961 and is organized by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). BMEL confirmed. The aim of this competition is to honor civic engagement and make the positive developments in rural regions visible. The villages present their ideas and concepts to become more livable and attractive.

The challenges facing rural regions in Germany are diverse. It is therefore crucial that village communities actively work on the development of their surroundings. A look back shows that the competition was originally called “Our village should become more beautiful!” was launched and was known by this name until 1998. Since then, the direction has changed to reflect social, economic and cultural changes.

A competition with perspective

In this competition, the best villages at district, regional and city level are selected - the winners then represent their federal state in the state competition. An annual event is planned in which the national winner will be honored at the Green Week in Berlin. There is prize money of between 3,000 and 15,000 euros for the participating villages. A jury also assesses the quality of development from various perspectives, such as the support of economic initiatives and the social commitment of the village communities, as shown on the website BLE described in detail.

This great commitment and creative design of village renewal is supported by the state authorities. The ArL Lüneburg provides around 40 million euros in funding annually to improve the quality of life and location in the 11 districts between Hamburg, Bremen and Hanover.

The coming weeks promise exciting insights into the commitment of the village communities and their ideas for sustainable development. Let's be ready to perhaps discover one or two gems among these 14 villages!