"Leave Love Behind": Creative competition promoting diversity and respect

Caption: Beate Friedrich, Tanja Schreiber and Miriam Drüppel are looking forward to receiving entries for the creative competition. (Photo: Waldeck-Frankenberg District)

People still face exclusion and discrimination – simply because they love who they love, or because they are who they are. To send a strong message of openness, the Support Centre for Queer People in the Waldeck-Frankenberg district is launching the creative competition ‘Leave Love Behind – Messages for Diversity, Respect and Mutual Appreciation’. Schoolchildren and participants in youth outreach programmes aged 14 and over are warmly invited to express their messages through creative means.

Creative efforts to promote tolerance and coexistence
Whether they are pictures, collages, statements or comics: participants have until 18 September 2026 to submit their work, in a format no larger than DIN A3, digitally as a PDF file via the district’s creative competition website at www.landkreis-waldeck-frankenberg.de/liebe and thus enter them into the competition. We are looking for creative responses to questions such as: What does openness to diversity look like? Which messages offer encouragement? And how can we create a world in which everyone can be themselves without fear of discrimination?

An important stand against discrimination
The background to the competition is a serious one: recent studies show that anti-queer crimes in Hesse have reached an all-time high, and the latest attack on the CSD in Berlin also underlines the need for social cohesion and for taking a stand against hate and discrimination. Furthermore, studies by the German Youth Institute (DJI) show that 44 per cent of queer young people experience discrimination in educational or work settings. More than half of them have been verbally abused or ridiculed.

“Statistically speaking, there are one or two LGBTQ+ children and young people in every school class,” says Miriam Drüppel, the district’s deputy women’s representative. “Through this competition, we want to create spaces where diversity is visible. Engaging in creative activities as a class or group helps to foster a supportive environment – including for young people who are still in the process of coming out.” At the same time, the project offers young people without a queer background an important change of perspective.

Attractive prizes and an awards ceremony in October
A four-member jury will assess the entries using an anonymous points-based system. Great prizes await the three best entries: a voucher for FantasticRooms Willingen, a voucher for member shops of the Kaufmännischer Verein Frankenberg e. V., and a voucher for Cine K Korbach. The awards ceremony will take place as part of the Coming Out Days, which are being held this year from 5 to 11 October. To recognise the young people’s creative work, the entries will subsequently be used across the district’s public channels and in its publications.

The closing date for entries is 18 September
. The competition is open to young people aged 14 and over living in the Waldeck-Frankenberg district. Entries can be submitted digitally as PDF files by 18 September via www.landkreis-waldeck-frankenberg.de/liebe. Further information about the competition and the terms and conditions can also be found via this link.

Keywords:

Specialist Service for Women and Equal Opportunities LGBTIQ* ‘Leave Love Behind’ Creative Competition