Our Luxembourgish colleagues over at RTL.lu asked their readers to vote for their Luxembourgers of the Year (both a man and a woman) and it appears that the voters have chosen to highlight people involved in social work.

Over 2,000 people voted on RTL.lu to elect Gwen Daufeld and Jerr Herr as the Luxembourgers of the Year 2018. For the first time in the competition, a woman (Daufeld) gained the most votes overall.

Gwen Daufeld was nominated and won the title of Luxembourger of the Year 2018 (woman) due to her work with dementia patients and help in the fire service. Daufeld drives an ambulance regularly and is described as someone who is always ready to help.

As for her male counterpart, president and founder of the not for profit association Wonschkutsch, Jeff Herr, was awarded the title. The association's aim is to help achieve a final wish for terminally ill people.

The association is less than a year old and Herr feels honoured that the Luxembourgish community has highlighted his work.

While not every wish is possible to fulfil, Wonschkutsch works with patients' doctors to determine what they can do to help them.

How does the competition work?

The competition started with RTL.lu users sending in suggestions for potential candidates. The team over at RTL.lu then chose a shortlist of 10 men and 10 women each out of these near 200 nominees.

During the last two weeks of December, the competition went on to a voting stage for those registered on RTL.lu. Each user could give a maximum of six votes, but only three per candidate.

Trends and awards

As with previous years, RTL.lu users tended towards honouring non-celebrities and instead focused on individuals who have contributed towards society and work for charitable causes.

The two 2018 laureates were both gifted artwork by Jack Zazzera.

RTL

Artist Jack Zazzera with the prizes for 2018 laureates.

Previous laureates

2017: Martine Kohl (Street Angels) and André Bichel (police officer)
2016: Nathalie Scheer (ALS patient) and Marcel Steffen (police officer)
2015: Yasmine Grisius (police officer, posthumous award) and Jean Asselborn (Minister of Foreign Affairs)
2014: Noémie Siebenaller and Camille Arend (both awarded posthumously as the two "Le soleil dans la main" NGO workers died in a plane crash in Mali)
2013: Sylvie Conter (judge) and Gaston Vogel (lawyer)
2012: Eliane Leger (nurse) and Romain Hilbes (bus driver and emergency services worker)
2011: Xavier Bettel (then mayor of Luxembourg City)
2010: Andy Schleck (cyclist)
2009: Andy Schleck (cyclist)
2008: Jean-Claude Juncker (then prime minister)

Since 2012, RTL split the awards by gender and no longer accepted nominations of those who previously won LOTY.

RTL

The 2017 laureates