“The Silver Horse” goes to Maren Höfle this year for her article “Alwin Schockemöhle – the equestrian legend turns 85”, Semmieke Rothenberger came second and Dominique Wehrmann third. Burkhard Jung was honoured as Personality of the Year.

The Olympic gold medallist, Alwin Schockemöhle has achieved everything that is possible for a show-jumper. But his life has not just been characterized by sporting success, but also by health setbacks and a robbery that changed everything. To commemorate the 85th birthday of the equestrian sport legend, the journalist, Maren Höfle, looked back on all of this. Alwin Schockemöhle set off on a journey through time with her and over the course of several visits looked back on his career. Schockemöhle talked more openly than ever about his fears and anxieties. The result is a 30-minute long, moving article that the jury of the online award has now honoured with “The Silver Horse”.

The famous prize was conferred this year as an online award for the fourth time. Because equestrian sport journalism has also undergone a transformation and in the meantime uses totally new and exciting digital formats. This contributes towards making this fascinating sport even more vibrant, topical and personal. The jury examined over 40 applications, including not ony articles from bloggers and onliners, but also items from editorial offices, athletes, event organisers and agencies. Among others, the jury evaluated the entries under the criteria creativity, quality, user involvement, target group affinity and the relevance of the submitted articles.

The jury, comprising of Wolfgang Brinkmann (President of the German Riding and Driving Association, DRFV), Nadine Capellmann (dressage rider), Michael Mronz (General Manager of the Aachener Reitturnier GmbH), Tobias Königs (Director Social Media/CHIO Aachen), Dr. Ute Countess Rothkirch (DRFV board member) and last year’s winner, Astrid Appels, were impressed by the diversity of the submitted articles. In addition to Maren Höfle, Semmieke Rothenberger won second place for the overall concept of her Instagram accounts and Dominique Wehrmann came third with her blog items “On the way to Poland, support for the Ukraine” at www.st-georg.de.

The winners were honoured amid an exceptional setting: At the Opening Ceremony of the CHIO Aachen 2022. During the prize-giving ceremony on Tuesday evening, Burkhard Jung was also presented with the “Silver Horse” in the rubric “Personalities”. The Master of Riding, won the award for his decade-long services to the Federal Association of Professional Riders and the German Riding and Driving Association.