Freising Dialogue Award

Background: What is the Freising Dialogue Award?

The City of Freising, the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, and Renovabis launched the Freising Dialogue Award for the first time in 2026. The award honours outstanding individuals, initiatives and institutions that foster understanding, cooperation and reconciliation between Eastern and Western Europe.
The Freising Dialogue Award recognises commitment that builds bridges, creates opportunities for encounter and strengthens social cohesion across Europe. It highlights people and organisations that do not merely call for dialogue but actively put it into practice.

The first award ceremony will take place on 16 September 2026 as part of the 30th International Renovabis Congress in Freising.

What kind of commitment does the award recognise?

The Freising Dialogue Award honours individuals and organisations that promote dialogue between Eastern and Western Europe. Such engagement can take many different forms:

• Intercultural Encounters: Initiatives that bring together people from different cultural and national backgrounds and encourage personal exchange and mutual understanding.
• Collaborative Social Engagement: Projects that contribute to social development, solidarity and social justice through cross-border cooperation.
• Exchange and Reconciliation: Work that addresses the legacy of dictatorship, violence and division, preserves historical memory and helps foster reconciliation.
• Theological and Interreligious Dialogue: Encounters between Christian denominations, different religions and secular society that promote mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence.