2019
We are very pleased to announce that Federal Minister Ines Stilling has awarded the Käthe Leichter State Prize 2019 to Maria Cristina Boidi, co-founder and long-time coordinator of LEFÖ. At a very elegant and atmospheric ceremony on October 14, 2019, Cristina – and thus all LEFÖ women – received this honor.
Evelyn Probst was ceremoniously named “Josefstädterin 2019” in the category “Democracy and Women’s Rights” on October 1, 2019, at the Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art. Since 2014, the LEFÖ Intervention Center for Trafficked Women* has been based in Vienna’s 8th district, and we see this recognition as an acknowledgment of the highly committed work of the entire LEFÖ-IBF team and the LEFÖ women*.
2015
Maria Cristina Boidi, the coordinator and co-founder of LEFÖ, received the Decoration of Merit in Gold of the Province of Vienna on June 15th. We are pleased to receive this honor and recognition seeing as Cristina has, through her life’s work, helped strengthen and encourage many women and migrants, for themselves as well as for achieving better living conditions. She also has worked on obtaining fair Rights for Women and Migrants – here and now, locally, nationally and globally.
2010
As a longtime companion of Johanna Dohnal, as a feminist and a pioneer and expert with regards to her approaches on (women’s) migration, sex work and trafficking in women, Maria Cristina Boidi, coordinator of LEFÖ, was awarded the “Johanna Dohnal Recognition 2010”.
2009
The 2009 Women’s Achievement Award of the 12th District Green Party (Meidlinger Grünen) gave Gloria Tichy the second prize for her work in the women’s painting studio at LEFÖ. For two years now, Gloria Tichy—formerly a professor for art in Columbia and currently a painter in Vienna—has been working on a volunteer basis and used her love for painting to encourage creative and interpersonal encounters at LEFÖ’s Learning Center for Migrant Women.
2007
In October 2007, LEFÖ received the WOMAN AWARD from the Austrian magazine WOMAN. LEFÖ was recognized under the motto “The Best of the Best” in the category “migrant women.”
2006
The film Kurz davor ist es passiert directed by Anja Salomonowitz received a number of awards, among others the Vienna Film Award, the Innovative Artistic Award, Mar del Plata 2007, and the Film Peace Prize of the City of Osnabrück. The wide recognition for this political piece that is concerned with trafficking in women not only goes out to the director, but also acknowledges LEFÖ’s expertise in acting as the film’s content supervisor.
2005
2005 was a commemorative year celebrating 20 years of LEFÖ. Upon this occasion LEFÖ’s work was also recognized with the following awards:
- Sozialmarie Prize (Unruhe Privatstiftung)
- Ute Bock Prize for Civil Courage 2005
2004
The “Herta Firnberg Recognition Award” was awarded to the Austrian intervention centres against violence against women, including to the LEFÖ-IBF (Intervention Centre for trafficked women).