The Junge Akademie (Germany) has announced the winners of its “Celebration Rituals” competition, which looked at how the successful completion of a doctorate/PhD degree is celebrated. The Academy’s working group on “Pro-Motion”, playing on the German term for getting your PhD, Promotion, was seeking known and unknown, existing and visionary rituals, which rightfully celebrate the completion of this phase on the academic career path.
Online submissions were accepted until the end of June 2019, and had to be in the form of videos, pictures, texts, or other completely different representations. A variety of submissions was submitted, from comics and rap songs, to classical literary contributions. Five submissions were distinguished and awarded collectively with 3,400 euros: 1) Säule der Weisheit (Pillar of Wisdom), 2) Präsentier’ uns deine Doktorarbeit! (Tell us about your Dissertation), 3) Mit Zoten ins Doktoren-Dasein (Telling Dirty Jokes at the Start of your post-PhD Life), 4) Der verlorene Doktorhut (The Lost Graduation Cap), and 5) Eine Familie feiert (A Family Celebration).
Further information concerning the competition can be found at promotionsrituale.diejungeakademie.de (in German only). The Commerzbank Foundation supported the competition.