Awards – Hanover – Otto Waalkes and Eske Nannen honored with state prize – Panorama
Hanover (dpa) – The co-founder of the Emder Kunsthalle, Eske Nannen, and the comedian Otto Waalkes have been honored with the Lower Saxony State Prize. The natives of Emden share the award, which is endowed with 35,000 euros and is awarded every two years by the state to personalities for their outstanding work, as the State Chancellery in Hanover announced. Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD), who presented the award, said: “What you can see very well in the two is that you can be very cosmopolitan and at the same time very close to home.”
Otto Waalkes (73), who has lived in Hamburg for centuries, is one of the best-known East Frisians. The eulogy for the comedian was held by Udo Lindenberg. He talked about their times in the 1970s in a flat-sharing community in Hamburg. “We were really keen to be stars back then,” he revealed. Lindenberg called his old friend Waalkes the “Godfather of Comedy”.
Eske Nannen (80) built up the Kunsthalle with her husband Henri, the long-standing editor-in-chief of Stern magazine. In her laudatory speech, former Hamburg Senator for Culture Karin von Welck said: “Eske Nannen is an excellent client because of her energy, her commercial expertise and her organizational talent”. You really deserve the State Prize.
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