{"id":12508,"date":"2025-11-26T10:02:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T09:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mdw.ac.at\/magazin\/?p=12508"},"modified":"2025-11-26T10:02:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T09:02:06","slug":"mdw-young-research-award-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mdw.ac.at\/magazin\/2025\/11\/26\/mdw-young-research-award-2025\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"mdw young research award 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
What topics from the world of music and the performing arts at large captivate the minds of soon-to-graduate secondary school students? To what questions do current political, societal, and environmental developments give rise? On all this, the recent conferral of the mdw young research award to its third crop of winners offered some insights. Since 2023, this award has recognised music and performing arts-related papers authored as part of Austria\u2019s Matura<\/i> exam.<\/h5>\n

With the \u201cpre-academic final paper\u201d (formerly called the \u201cVWA\u201d, now the \u201cABA\u201d) having been made optional as of the 2024\/25 academic year, the present call saw fewer projects submitted\u2014and with the ABA\u2019s definition having been expanded to include artistic and creative projects, nine of the 26 submissions were of an artistic character. 21 evaluators from the mdw supported the process with their specialised expertise, nominating twelve projects from which a jury selected the prize-winners. A new feature was direct feedback for all entrants, and the jury ended up recognising a total of ten submissions\u2014conferring six awards, three honourable mentions, and a Special Award. The topics ranged from stage fright among musicians, John Cage\u2019s 4\u201933\u201d<\/i>, Stanislavski\u2019s theories on acting, and Schwitters\u2019 Ursonate<\/i> to the visual language of science fiction films and the mafia\u2019s influence on the music industry with Frank Sinatra as a case study. Further topics included music for dementia patients, anorexia in the acting profession, and strategies for making theatre more attractive to a young audience. The Special Award, presented by the Department of Composition Studies and Music Production, went to the composition Andante con Variazioni, Opus 1<\/i>. The awards ceremony took place on 25\u00a0September 2025 in the presence of Vice Rector Barbara Strack-Hanisch, with all awardees on hand to personally introduce their projects and motivations. The evening was moderated by the award initiators Eveline Christof (Department of Music Education Research and Practice) and Therese Kaufmann (Office of Research Support) and featured musical contributions by Filip Anic at the piano (Johannes Brahms: Intermezzo in A Major, op. 118 no. 2, Andante <\/i>teneramente), by Magdalena Hahnkamper and Daniel Aebi (Performance: DadaRella und der Angriff der Synkope!<\/i>), and by Leona Sperrer and Lea Carlotta Walenta (\u201cSomething Stupid\u201d [Nancy & Frank Sinatra] and \u201cArrow\u201d [original composition]). The Special Award was presented by Annegret Huber, head of the Department of Composition Studies and Music Production.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Stefanie Freynschlag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the whole, it can be said that the participating secondary school students\u2019 motivation to engage with their topics in an intense and interest-driven way was all the more palpable thanks to how the new ABA is optional and can be either a pre-academic paper or an artistic\/creative project. Just how this format will develop in the future remains to be seen, but especially the new option of artistic projects promises further potential for the mdw.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Stefanie Freynschlag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This time around, there was also great interest in the associated Campus tour: around 30 interested school students visited the University Library\u2019s reading room, the Future Art Lab\u2019s studios, and the Film Academy\u2019s facilities.<\/p>\n

The mdw young research award makes the mdw more visible as a place of study while also reinforcing its relationship with the school system. It also recognises the work of final-year school students, encourages them to apply here, and creates an awareness of the diverse range of expertise present at the mdw. And finally, it provides valuable insights into the interests of young target audiences\u2014an important basis for science communication on an equal footing.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What topics from the world of music and the performing arts at large captivate the minds of soon-to-graduate secondary school students? To what questions do current political, societal, and environmental developments give rise? On all this, the \ufeffrecent conferral of the mdw young research awar\ufeffd to its third crop of winners offered some insights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":422,"featured_media":12511,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1618,1359,856],"class_list":["post-12508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-report","tag-2025-4","tag-youngresearchaward","tag-report"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdw.ac.at\/magazin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdw.ac.at\/magazin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdw.ac.at\/magazin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdw.ac.at\/magazin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/422"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdw.ac.at\/magazin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12508"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdw.ac.at\/magazin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12664,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdw.ac.at\/magazin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12508\/revisions\/12664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdw.ac.at\/magazin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdw.ac.at\/magazin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdw.ac.at\/magazin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdw.ac.at\/magazin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}