And the winner is...

The next morning, each finalist was called to a personal interview at the University Centre «César Ritz» in Brig. The jury then began their deliberations. The final outcome, however, remained secret a while longer and the suspense continued as the group travelled to the Institut Hôtelier «César Ritz» in Le Bouveret, where they stayed overnight and sat in on some classes the next morning.

In a gesture of generosity, the President of «César Ritz» Colleges, Mr Martin Kisseleff, decided to increase the total value of the scholarship prizes on offer from 40,000 euros to 145,000 euros. This meant that the amounts on offer for the new fourth and fifth places were almost as much as the original first prize!

And so the winner was Katharina Eicke, who was awarded 35,000 euros towards the Bachelor course in International Business in Hotel and Tourism Management. The photo shows the five finalists, who all left the Institut Hôtelier «César Ritz» as winners.

The suspense was almost tangible during the two days that the five finalists of the Einstieg competition spent in Brig and Le Bouveret at the invitation of «César Ritz» Colleges. The competition was organized jointly by «César Ritz» Colleges and Einstieg Abi, and required participants to answer two essay-style questions.  By writing about the tourism and hospitality industry and their own motivation for pursuing such a career, participants were in with a chance of winning a scholarship to «César Ritz» Colleges. The organizers had originally planned to choose the best three entries, but given the quality of the responses received, the management of «César Ritz» Colleges decided to extend the number of finalists to five. They arrived in Brig on 3 September, where they got to know one another over a traditional meal of dried meat and raclette, each one privately trying to guess who the winner might be.

The groupe of winners flanked by Martin Kisseleff, Marga Cretton and one of last year's winners, Nadine Grosser.

The winners from left to right: Luisa Heimberg, Katharina Eicke, Stefanie Rosenau, Nathalie Pett, Sarah Rostek