At the beginning of June, the cities of Gera and Erfurt once again became a central hub for young cinema fans and the German-speaking children’s media industry. The 33rd German Children’s Media Festival, GOLDENER SPATZ (“Golden Sparrow”), kicked off with its opening ceremony on June 1, 2025. As one of the largest festivals of its kind, it offered a comprehensive overview of current audiovisual and digital productions for children and adolescents until June 7. Our doctoral consortium, dig!doc, was also represented by doctoral candidate Petra Weixelbraun.
The diverse program focused on stories of growing up, friendship, courage, and the major decisions in life. In addition to 32 feature-length and short films, six digital media offerings competed in the “Interactive & Digital Storytelling” competition. A key role at the Goldener Spatz is the active participation of children: two juries, consisting of 30 girls and boys aged 9 to 13 from eight European countries, decided on the main awards.
Our doctoral candidate Petra Weixelbraun was active at the intersection of media practice and young audiences. In Gera, she facilitated the hands-on exhibit for the “Interactive & Digital Storytelling” competition at the “Medienwerkstatt” (Media Workshop), as well as the accompanying school workshops. Additionally, she was involved in professional development sessions for teachers on how to use digital media in the classroom.
In these participatory settings, children aged 8 to 12 had the opportunity to independently explore the nominated digital media and evaluate them as young experts. Together, they collected and discussed criteria for engaging and child-friendly interactive media.
The direct work with the young target audience and the dialogue with media educators and development teams during the festival provided valuable insights for scholarly research on digital media in an educational context.
For more information about the festival and to see the media award winners, please visit the official website: goldenerspatz.de
