SME award goes to Münster

Weicon honoured with major award for medium-sized companies

The Münster-based family business Weicon was honoured with the 2024 SME award “Großer Preis des Mittelstandes” in Düsseldorf.

The awards gala “With confidence towards the future” of the Oskar Patzelt Foundation took place end of September as part of the 30th competition for the SME award. More than 300 entrepreneurs were present at the event in Düsseldorf.

Nominated by The Münster Economic Development Agency

Nationwide, 4,600 SMEs and institutions were nominated for the award in 2024. Of these, 451 reached the jury list. The manufacturer of adhesives and sealants Weicon was nominated for the award by The Münster Economic Development Agency.

Twenty entrepreneurs received the award as finalists on Saturday. The board members of the Oskar Patzelt Foundation, Dr Helfried Schmidt and Petra Tröger, presented the award statue to eleven companies – including the Münster-based family business Weicon – from six competition regions.

“In general, companies are nominated over several years and eventually receive an award if they show a positive development. We were honoured as a finalist immediately on our first nomination in 2023 and went on to win the award on our second nomination – that happens very rarely. We are absolutely delighted about this, and it confirms that Weicon is on the right track,” says Ann-Katrin Weidling, co-partner of the Weicon Group.

The SME award “Großer Preis des Mittelstandes”

Every year in November, the Oskar-Patzelt-Stiftung invites municipalities and associations, institutions and companies to nominate outstanding medium-sized companies for the competition. Twelve regional juries and a final jury select the prize winners and finalists. Three companies per competition region can be honoured as award winners and five others as finalists.

No other business competition in Germany has achieved such a large and sustained response over the past 30 years as this competition which has been organised by the Leipzig-based Oskar Patzelt Foundation since 1994. Winning the prize does not involve any financial reward. For the companies, it is all about honour, public recognition and acknowledgement of their achievements – without any financial incentive. “The ‘Große Preis des Mittelstandes’ awarded by the Oskar-Patzelt-Stiftung is the most coveted business award in Germany.” (DIE WELT)

Competition criteria

The participating companies are assessed according to five criteria: overall development of the company, creation/securing of jobs and trainee positions, modernisation and innovation, commitment to the region, service and customer focus. Only companies that show excellence in all categories are awarded for their commitment.

The three stages of the award competition

The first stage (nomination list) includes all companies that have been nominated for the competition by third parties. The second stage (jury list) is reached by all companies on the nomination list that have provided the jurors with data in the online database, largely fulfil the five criteria and are presented to the jurors for a decision. The third stage (award list) is only reached by those companies that have been selected as award winners or finalists.

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