Golden Flower from Rheydt
The Rheydt Golden Flower is the oldest German environmental protection prize and is awarded every two years by the city of Mönchengladbach .
The undoped prize consists of a gold-plated, stylized dahlia in the form of a medal on a ribbon in the city colors yellow and red. It has been awarded since 1967 by the then independent city of Rheydt and since 1975 by the city of Mönchengladbach to persons or institutions that are committed to the preservation of Use the environment and nature. The winners are selected by the Board of Trustees for the awarding of the Golden Flower of Rheydt with chairman Karl Hans Arnold and the mayor of Mönchengladbach as deputy chairman. The award ceremony traditionally takes place on the weekend of the Rheydt Flower Sunday on the second Sunday in September, on which a flower parade passed through Rheydt until 1975. In 1996 the parade was revived and since then it has been held annually with the awarding of prizes.
Award winners
| year | Award winners | function |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Count Lennart Bernadotte | President of the German Horticultural Society, speaker of the German Council for Land Management |
| 1969 | Pierre Schneiter | former President of the French National Assembly , Chairman of the French Horticultural Association |
| 1971 | Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands | President of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) |
| 1973 | Ernst Schröder (politician) | Honorary President of the Central Association of German Horticulture |
| 1975 | Franz Burda | Deputy President of the Foundation Council of WWF Germany |
| 1977 | Heinz Sielmann | Natural scientist and filmmaker, born in Rheydt |
| 1979 | Alfred Auer | Director of the City Garden of Vienna |
| 1981 | Thor Heyerdahl | Norwegian explorer and adventurer |
| 1983 | Russell E. Dickenson | former director of the US National Park Service |
| 1985 | Gerhard Olschowy | former head of the Federal Research Institute for Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology |
| 1987 | Hannelore Schmidt | Founder of the Foundation for the Protection of Endangered Plants |
| 1989 | Gunnar Brusewitz | Swedish painter and author |
| 1991 | Akira Miyawaki | Director of the Environmental Sciences Institute at Yokohama State University |
| 1993 | Klaus Töpfer | Federal Environment Minister |
| 1995 | Karl Lehmann | Chairman of the German Bishops' Conference |
| 1997 | Ursula and Gunter Konrad | Mönchengladbach collectors and promoters of the Asmat culture of Papua New Guinea |
| 1999 | Countess Sonja Bernadotte | President of the German Horticultural Society, wife of the first winner |
| 2001 | Klaus Steilmann | Textile entrepreneur |
| 2003 | Reinhold Ewald | Science astronaut, born in Mönchengladbach |
| 2005 | Clean-up MG eV | Initiative to keep the city of Mönchengladbach clean |
| 2007 | Franz Alt | Journalist and author |
| 2009 | Claus Hipp | Managing director of the food and baby food manufacturer Hipp |
| 2011 | Peter Maffay | Musicians / singers, for social engagement for disadvantaged children and young people |
| 2013 | Ranga Yogeshwar | Science journalist, physicist and moderator |
| 2015 | Arved Fuchs | Expedition leader and polar expert, for special services to the preservation and deepening of the relationship between man and nature |
| 2017 | Countess Bettina Bernadotte af Wisborg | Protection and preservation of nature |