A Sustainability Prize in the category Project Work, endowed with 3.000 euros was awarded to Simon Hoebel, TU Dresden, for his thesis on recycled thermoplastic fibres for composite components.

Marina Michel, TU Dresden, received a Sustainability Award in the category Master, worth 3.500 euros. The topic of her master thesis was the functionalisation of yarns for the filtration of micro- and nanoplastics from water. 

A Promotion Prize in the category Project Work, endowed with 4.000 euros, was awarded to a student group from RWTH Aachen. The teamwork of Luis Gleissner, Leopold Habersbrunner, Frederic Olbrich and Frederik Schicks was the construction of a test rig for tests on oil-adsorbing textiles. 

Felix Zerbes, RWTH Aachen, was awarded a Promotion Prize of 3.500 euros in the category Master. He developed a technical solution for air jet weaving to improve the quality of woven fabric.

Walter Reiners Foundation – recruiting and promoting talent
The VDMA Textile Machinery Association is actively involved in promoting young engineers through its Walter Reiners-Stiftung Foundation. Every year, the Foundation awards promotion prizes for the best dissertation and diploma or master's thesis, as well as creativity prizes for clever bachelor's and semester theses. By providing financial support for university excursions to VDMA member companies and to the leading trade fair ITMA, it provides students with regular insights into practice.