Who will be “Student of the Year”?

Berlin/Bonn, 15 October 2026. Who will be “Student of the Year 2027”? Deutsche Hochschulverband (DHV) and Deutsches Studierendenwerk (DSW) are seeking the student or student team of the year for the twelfth time. With this award, the DSW and DHV recognize outstanding student engagement. The prize money amounts to 5,000 euros and is provided by Stifterverband. The award recognizes students or teams who, beyond their academic achievements, demonstrate commitment in a special, innovative, and—ideally—unique way—regardless of the form it takes. The award will be presented at a ceremony on 22 March 2027, at the “Gala der Deutschen Wissenschaft” in Berlin.

1. Christoph Lüdemann, a medical student at Witten/Herdecke University, who provided “help for self-help” in Rwanda and Sierra Leone through the organization “L’appel Deutschland,” which he helped establish (2016),
   
   
2. the Spinelli Barracks Mannheim construction project led by 16 architecture students from the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, in which they worked together with refugees to design, plan, and build a wooden pavilion on the site of a former U.S. military barracks; the pavilion now serves as a meeting place and retreat for residents of the initial reception center (2017),
   
   
3. medical student Philipp Humbsch from the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, originally from Frankfurt/Oder. He is the founder and driving force behind the initiative “Anyone Can Be a Hero,” which, since 2016, has been providing free first-aid training—primarily to elementary school students in economically disadvantaged areas of Brandenburg—and, in doing so, has also raised their awareness of further volunteer opportunities with civil protection organizations (2018),
   
   
4. Wiebke Gehm, a medical student at the University of Rostock and a leading member of the student initiative “TNA – Tommy nicht allein,” through which students have been volunteering their free time since 2015 to care for patients in need at the Rostock Children’s Hospital (2019),
   
   
5. medical student Sagithjan Surendra from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, who is the founder and driving force behind the “Aelius Förderwerk,” an organization that, since 2017, has been supporting children and adolescents from non-academic families—often with an immigrant background—on their educational journey through a wide range of non-financial support programs (2020),
   
   
6. the “TechAcademy,” a group of 20 students from Goethe University Frankfurt am Main who promote the digital literacy of their fellow students from all departments and disciplines through free seminars (2021),
   
   
7. 15 students from the Department of Social Work at the Catholic University of Applied Sciences North Rhine-Westphalia (katho) in Aachen, who selflessly supported many affected people through their disaster relief efforts during the once-in-a-century flooding in Stolberg (2022),
   
   
8. Seven students from various disciplines in Hanover, Berlin, and Hamburg for founding the group “Hanover Helps e.V.” and for their outstanding commitment to it. Immediately after Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine began, the student group launched aid deliveries, collected donations, set up children’s play areas in the reception halls at the Hannover Exhibition Center, and distributed hundreds of packed school backpacks to students in need in the Hannover region (2023),
   
   
9. Contimi Kenfack Mouafo, an electrical engineering student at RWTH Aachen University originally from Cameroon, for founding the association “3 E’s 4 Africa,” which has been supporting African undergraduate and doctoral students at universities in Africa since 2020. The goal is to promote research projects on the energy transition, combating climate change, and climate change adaptation through education, empowerment, and eco-friendliness (2024),
   
   
10. Noah Dejanovic, a student teacher at the University of Leipzig, who himself experienced physical, psychological, and sexual violence as a child and is committed—among other things—to the project “Child Protection in Higher Education,” which aims to educate and raise awareness among students and faculty regarding child endangerment and abuse (2025),

11. Marian Grau, a computer science student at the University of Konstanz, who, because of his experiences with his severely disabled brother who died at a young age, is deeply committed to helping families facing similar challenges. As an author and ambassador for the German Children’s Hospice Association, he raises awareness of their situation, while as a mentor with the Philip Julius e.V. association, he launched the project “By Siblings, For Siblings” to support young people in similar situations (2026).

Deutsche Hochschulbverband (DHV) is the nationwide professional association representing scholars in Germany, with approximately 34,000 members.

As the umbrella organization for the 57 student services organizations in Germany, Deutsches Studierendenwerk represents their interests as well as the sociopolitical concerns of students. 

Media contact at Deutscher Hochschulverband:

Dr. Matthias Jaroch
Head of Communications & Press
Rheinallee 18-20 | 53173 Bonn
✆ 0228 90266-15
✉ jaroch@hochschulverband.de

This press release online.