Applications are now open for Denmark’s Village of the Year award

The 2022 theme stresses the importance of community and helping one another

Danish villages with a population of up to 1,500 inhabitants now have the chance to submit their applications for the Village of the Year 2022 award. The National Association of Villages first established this award in 1995 with the goal of putting the work and efforts of villages in the spotlight.  

This year, the theme will be “a village where we take care of each other”. As such, applicants will have to showcase initiatives and projects that contribute to the physical and mental well-being of their inhabitants and communities. Explaining the theme and the power of places with small populations, the new chairperson of the assessment committee Helene Simoni Thorup shared:

“Villages have very special opportunities for - and abilities to - take care of each other, regardless of whether one has have lived there for 100 years or has just moved, perhaps even as a refugee. In villages, we know each other and often have strong communities across, and you simply live longer from that. It will be exciting to see examples of what the villages can do because I think there is something important to learn for our whole community if we could become better at taking care of each other.”

Apply until 14 June

Villages with up to 1,500 inhabitants will be able to submit their applications to landsby@landdistrikterne.dk until 14 June 2022. It is important to note that, in addition to receiving the prestigious title “Village of the Year”, the winner will also earn DKK 50,000 (over EUR 6,700). What is more, the villages with the second and third-best submissions will receive DKK 25,000 each (over EUR 3,300). 

To take part in the competition, applicants must submit a maximum of 2 pages or a 2-minute-long video in which they introduce their village and explain how its work fits into the 2022 theme. More specifically, they should give concrete examples of measures that target the physical and mental well-being of inhabitants and how they can serve as inspiration for other villages. 

The committee will then evaluate all the submissions and visit the three villages which will advance to the finals on 19 and 21 August. After visiting the villages and seeing their work first-hand, the committee will announce the winner of the competition.

The 2022 award is organised in collaboration between the National Association of Villages, the Rural Joint Council and Forenet Kredit.