The time has finally come. The winners of the first Volunteer Awards of the PMI Germany Chapter have been chosen.

As a chapter, it is particularly important to us to say THANK YOU for your dedication and commitment. For this reason, we have decided to present annual awards to volunteers who have made a special contribution to the chapter.

We have created the following categories for the awards:

• Best Volunteers 2024 – this award was presented three times  
• Best Team 2024 
• Best Local Group 2024 

Using a streamlined process, the board members nominated volunteers in the respective categories. There were far more entries than awards, so a small committee was formed and weighed up the nominations to decide who the winners were.

...and here are the winners...

1) Category "Best Volunteer 2024"

This category was about recognizing special achievements and outstanding commitment from individual volunteers. Understandably, there were many nominations in this category, so the selection was particularly difficult here. (We are keeping our fingers crossed for all those who did not make it next year).

> Dr. Elena Pancera, Program Lead Youth Empowerment Program

Dr. Elena Pancera is interested in new technologies such as artificial intelligence and automated driving and, of course, project management. She has led several groups and project teams for over 10 years, in academia, research and development, gaining diverse experience in leadership and project management. Since 2023 she has been volunteering at PMI Germany Chapter e.V. as Program Lead of the Youth Empowerment Program. The aim of this program is to inspire young talents in their first steps in project management, to empower them on their way and to enable them to embrace and drive change. The program is part of the Diversity Initiative of the PMI Germany Chapter.

> Elena Petrevska, Head Local Group Darmstadt

Elena Petrevska is a project manager in the industrial automation sector. She is originally from North Macedonia and moved to Germany to study electrical engineering. After 6+ years in hardware and software development, she moved into project management. Elena is dedicated and passionate, puts her heart and soul into her work and strives to constantly learn and improve. She has been a volunteer since the age of 15, driven by the desire to make a positive contribution to society. She has been involved with the PMI Germany Chapter since November 2022, currently as the leader of the very active Local Group Darmstadt.

> Marco Jacob, Head Local Group Hannover as well Key-Developer and Administrator der Website des Chapters

Marco Jacob is an agile coach and software developer at ivv GmbH, the IT service provider of VGH Versicherungen in Hanover. Marco has been a PMP since 2006 and has managed several software development projects since then. In 2007, he founded the Project Manager Meeting Hannover with monthly presentations on the topic of project management. In 2011, the PMI Local Group Hannover was founded, which he has led ever since. Agile software development is his passion, and he enjoys giving talks about it. His motto is: Just do it! At the start of the PMI Germany Chapter at the end of 2020 at the beginning of 2021, Marco was largely responsible for merging the websites of the individual chapters and has been the administrator of our website ever since.

2) Category „Best Team 2024“

The aim of this category was to highlight special team achievements.

It was relatively easy for the selection committee here, as the Diversity team has been a wonderful asset to the chapter since it was founded by former board member Anika Kruszona. The team lives the cultural values of PMI. The team's initiatives "Women in Project Management", "Female Empowerment Program" and the "Youth Empowerment Program" are also attracting attention in other PMI chapters. The team deserves to be highlighted in a special way.

Team Diversity

3) Category „Best Local Group“

The Local Groups are a central element of our mission and work as PMI Germany Chapter. In the Local Groups, we come together "face-to-face" with our members and interested parties. In addition to knowledge exchange, local networking takes place here. The Chapter currently has 24 Local Groups spread across Germany. All Local Groups make great contributions and are an important part of chapter life. It was therefore particularly difficult to highlight one local group. But we did it anyway.

> Local Group Hamburg

The Local Group Hamburg stands out because it is always trying to organize new event formats. "Be Curious" is one of PMI's cultural values. The Local Group Hamburg embodies this cultural value, which is why it received this year's award for the best Local Group.

from left to right: Heiko Stoldt, Bernd Volkmer, Stefan Tintera 

We congratulate all the winners and nominees and look forward to continued great commitment and dedication to our community.

The winners will be honored at chapter meetings in their region.