Golden Florian 2018/2019 award ceremony

At the award ceremony in Ulm on Monday, the Bad Segeberg fire brigade (Schleswig-Holstein) took first place in the „Finding members/image“ category with its entry „Childhood dreams“. Special feature: This video was produced in cooperation with students from the Kiel University of Applied Sciences and was presented with a „Golden Florian“ and a cheque for 1,500 euros by Jan-Erik Hegemann, editor-in-chief of Feuerwehr-Magazin, at a ceremony. Second place (1,000 euros in prize money) and third place (500 euros in prize money) in the member recruitment/image category went to the Düsseldorf fire brigade (North Rhine-Westphalia) with the video „Wir können nicht leise, aber ziemlich viel“ and the Alfeld fire brigade (Lower Saxony) with the film „ICH.DU.WIR – Lass uns nicht gegen die Wand fahren“.

In the campaign category, the Dresden-Cossebaude fire brigade (Saxony) took first place with their film „What if“. The Saxons also received the winner’s cheque, a certificate and the coveted trophy at a ceremony. Second and third place in the category went to the Bautzen District Fire Brigade Association (Saxony) with the video „Rettungsgasse kinderleicht“ and the Hamburg Fire Brigade with the film „WM 2018: Wir für Hamburg – Ihr für Deutschland“.

The Lüchow-Dannenberg District Fire Brigade Group (Lower Saxony) took first place in the „Children’s and Youth Fire Brigade“ category with its film „The Turntable Ladder“. Second and third place in the category went to the Königstädten fire brigade (Hesse) with the video „Übertritt statt Austritt“ and the Speikern youth fire brigade (Bavaria) with the film „Hier fehlt doch was“.

„Demographic change is now making itself felt in Germany’s volunteer fire services,“ explained Editor-in-Chief Hegemann at the awards ceremony. „The number of active members is falling across the board.“ The young firefighters coming up through the ranks are no longer sufficient to replace all those who are retiring due to age. In order to remain effective in the future and guarantee the level of safety for citizens, the fire brigades must recruit more new members. „Gone are the days when applicants just flocked to the fire brigades of their own accord,“ Hegemann said.

In order to support fire services in recruiting and retaining members, the fire service magazine (the medium with the widest reach in this area) launched the „Golden Florian“ competition in mid-2018. The aim is to recognise and present funny, surprising and well-made videos. „No other form of presentation can currently attract as much attention as well-made videos,“ says the editor-in-chief of Feuerwehr-Magazin. „Without videos, nothing works in successful media work today.“

In addition to concerns about having enough members, fire services in Germany are currently also dealing with issues such as „violence against emergency services“, „obstructions caused by rubberneckers“ and the lack of „rescue lanes“. A separate section of the Golden Florian was therefore created for films on these topics: Campaign.

Well-known companies from the fire service industry such as Dönges, Magirus, Bullard, EWS „Die Schuhfabrik“, Haix, Seiz, S-Gard and Deutsche Messe AG as the organiser of the world’s leading trade fair for fire protection, Interschutz, supported the competition as partners. The two most important associations in the industry, the German Fire Brigade Association and the Association for the Promotion of German Fire Protection, were also involved as conceptual partners.

A high-ranking jury made up of firefighters, representatives of the associations and sponsors, media representatives and employees of Feuerwehr-Magazin selected the 10 best proposals from all the applicants. The jury also awarded their votes (50% of the overall score). The final result also included an online vote. In total, over 20,000 users voted on www.feuerwehrmagazin.de. If you are interested, you can still watch the contributions of the 30 finalists on the YouTube channel of Feuerwehr-Magazin. The 31st video there is also the film by the Salzgitter-Bad fire brigade (Lower Saxony), which was awarded a special prize for its special effects.