Vienna honours women with 25th annual Women’s Award

The Vienna Women’s Award was presented at city hall for the 25th time, ORF reported. The femchor, a choir that campaigns for equality and against patriarchal structures, was among the recipients.

The choir accepted the award in the “Everyday Heroine” category and provided the music for the ceremony. Founded in 2020, it focuses on inclusion and the visibility of genderqueer people. The femchor performs on cultural stages and at demonstrations, combining singing with political activism through pop arrangements and feminist resistance songs.

“Making women visible” was the motto of the ceremony in the arcaded courtyard of city hall. Vienna’s councillor for women’s affairs, Elke Hanel-Torsch of the SPÖ, described the event as an “absolute highlight in the calendar year” and praised the recipients as role models who had worked for equality and justice and influenced society beyond their personal spheres.

Honours for Ingrid Brodnig and Katja Sturm-Schnabl

Ingrid Brodnig and Katja Sturm-Schnabl received the awards in the “Digitalisation” and “Contemporary Witness” categories.

Brodnig is an expert on digital issues and, as a journalist and author, critically examines topics including the manosphere, incels and deepfakes. She has received several awards, including the Bruno Kreisky Special Prize for Political Books, and served as Austria’s digital ambassador to the European Union.

Born in 1936 as a Carinthian Slovenian, Sturm-Schnabl survived detention in Nazi camps as a child. As a Slavist, she shaped academic research into Carinthia’s Slovenian cultural history. She continues to work as a contemporary witness for remembrance, human rights and against discrimination. In 2015, she received Austria’s Golden Decoration of Merit.