According to team leader and project co-ordinator Mia Wawra, "This year we won for best school project. For the evaluation of the Denver project I turned in a thick folder with the students’ diaries and the material they collected while shadowing, topped with beautiful photos."

This program was an outgrowth of a three year correspondence between Anne Schey’s and Julie Buck’s German classes at Niwot High School and Mia’s English classes at the Vienna Business School Handelsakademie I. Six Austrian students spent the last week in April living with and going to work with local families and learning about various aspects of American business and family life.

The June 12 ceremony took place at the Kuenstlerhaus-Kino in Vienna. Mia said, "The award ceremony was designed as a multimedia show. A well-known Austrian woman TV personality led the program and dignitaries from the school board and from the Vienna business community handed out the awards. It was very exciting."

The Merkur Award is a wonderful end to a four-year program where friendships and understanding were created that will hopefully last a lifetime. Congratulations to all!

Photo by Mai Wawra

The day after the awards ceremony Monika Mueller, Linda Benesch, Nicolas Ackerl, Wolfgang Oehm, Ronny Leber and Nicole Martinot strike a pose with the 1999 Merkur Award.