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This award is one of a kind: the MEGGLE Young Enterprise Award rewards the fearlessness of young entrepreneurs from South Eastern Upper Bavaria. For the eighth year now, Toni and Marina Meggle offered prizemoney totalling 50,000 euros. In 2019, even Bavarian Minister-President Dr Markus Söder was there to congratulate the prizewinners.

The MEGGLE Young Enterprise Award was presented for the first time in 2012 to mark the dairy's 125th anniversary. Seven years later and the award is just as popular as ever. Including this year's prize, the Meggle family have now supported fearless entrepreneurs from the region to the tune of 400,000 euros. But the prizemoney isn't the only benefit. "The Young Enterprise Award provides visibility for those entrepreneurs who were brave enough to establish their own companies and it is this fearless spirit that we have rewarded on this stage tonight," said host Dr Sonja Lechner M.A.

Dr Markus Söder gave a speech praising Bavaria's medium-sized businesses and the innovative ideas they come up with in the exciting space where sustainability meets competition. Before that, a video message was played in which last year's prizewinners reported on the really positive developments they had seen over the past 12 months. Another film introduced this year's winners as well. And the evening reached its high point in a laudatory speech given by Dr Sonja Lechner M.A. and Gerd Maas, spokesman of the judging panel.

First place in the MEGGLE Young Enterprise Award went to the Altötting district – more specifically, to Marktl am Inn: Oberhaizinger IDP GmbH, run by company directors and founders Stefan Oberhaizinger and Martin Unterstaller, were delighted to pick up 25,000 euros. These entrepreneurs are in the interior design business, offering not only architectural planning services, but also full project management; they act as the link between property developers, specialist planners and subcontractors.

On behalf of the judging panel, Gerd Maas explained why the firm, established in 2016 in Marktl am Inn, had the edge over the competition: "Above all, these company founders impressed us with their original services, which chime perfectly with what the market actually needs, and their coherent digital strategy. The way in which the business has grown in terms of turnover and workforce is highly impressive too." They also use laser scanners to capture room data in 3D, which is a very modern service that is not yet common practice.

Astrid Günther is the owner of Chiemgauer Genussmanufaktur. This entrepreneur's business idea was to make and sell innovative regional organic products in the food and natural cosmetics sectors. Astrid Günther and her team place great store by having a sustainable value-added chain and original packaging design. And they bring the regional aspect of their product range to the fore with real authenticity, explained Gerd Maas. A new online shop that enables the company to sell its broad spectrum of products even further afield rounded off its bid. Chiemgauer Genussmanufaktur, which is located in Freutsmoos/Palling in the district of Traunstein, was awarded 15,000 euros.

Third place in the MEGGLE Young Enterprise Award 2019 went to rotmilan holzgestaltung produktdesign from Frasdorf (Umratshausen district). Dominik Mendel and Toni Bettermann are both trained joiners who have studied product design. They founded rotmilan in 2016. The company designs and makes high-quality furniture and furnishings – which are "modern yet timeless", according to Gerd Maas. Both the founders think it is incredibly important to use local materials in their products. Last year, Mendel and Bettermann were nominated for the German Design Award in the Newcomer category – and now they have a MEGGLE Young Enterprise Award too. Third prize came with a sum of 10,000 euros.

The prizewinners received their trophies, which took the form of small silver milk churns, from Toni and Marina Meggle and Dr Markus Söder. The prizemoney will certainly help the winners out with their plans for the next few months. Recipients of the Young Enterprise Award also benefit from the increased visibility it creates for them and can feel vindicated that, in coming up with a business idea and then actually founding a company, they may not have chosen the easy path, but it was certainly the right one.