/ 2026 / Press / Travel/Tourism

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Joerg Rubbert, Germany
• Date of Photograph
  2015

The series was featured in the ZEIT Magazine (photo essay "Merkel – KanzlerInnentown"). During my stay in Texas, I stumbled upon a small village called Merkel, located in Taylor County (pop. 2,471).
I checked into the only motel in town. It turned out that the last visit from a European guest had been more than five months prior. Therefore, there was an urgent need for discussion, and topics were quickly found: Merkel (the then German Chancellor), the refugee crisis, and football …
At least, one can state that the town’s namesake (A. Merkel) is present even here in the middle of nowhere ...