Enlarge image Jorge De Leon of California State University Long Beach took third place in the speech competition. (© Jorge De Leon) The German Information Center has announced the winners of two nationwide contests in which college students delivered speeches and created works of art that dealt with the impact of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Andrew Salmon, a student at the University of Virginia, won first place in the art competition.  Robert Cannon, a student at Chapman University, took first place in the public speaking competition.  Both will receive the grand prize, a trip for two to Berlin.

The competitions were part of the Freedom Without Walls campaign to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. On over thirty college campuses across the US, students and faculty organized the preliminary competitions as well as lectures, film screenings, discussions and more.

A jury of German Embassy staff then selected the top five in each category from among the campus winners.  The winning artworks range from mixed media sculptures to vivid graffiti, and the winning speeches range from explorations of the historical context of the fall of the wall to impassioned statements on current political issues that divide American society.

The German Embassy and the German Information Center thank all of the students who participated and congratulate the winners on their achievements.