German twentysomething wins Swedish island

A young German woman has stumbled upon good fortune and won herself a remote island in Sweden, courtesy of the country’s tourist board.

German student wins Swedish island

27-year-old Miriam Wiskemann’s island is “a bit bigger” and “a bit greener” than she expected it to be. She’s only recently set foot on her 180-metre-long piece of Sweden after winning a competition organised by the Swedish tourist board.

Out of 2.000 applicants from 100 countries, Wiskemann was selected to become the “island authority” of Marsten, which sits on Sweden’s southwest coast, for one year. There’s not much to the island: a large-ish pile of stones designed as an orientation guide for fishing trawlers and lots of bird poo. “A bit of vegetation as well. I thought that was really cool,” the student told Tagesschau.

“Sweden has the most islands in the world, with more than 267.000,” Nils Persson of the Swedish tourist board explained. Indeed, Wiskemann was one of five island winners. “With this competition, we wanted to show that this is possible, even without owning an island. Here in Sweden, it’s simply about access to nature, freedom and space.” 

Island belongs to Wiskemann & Jedermann

In Sweden, no woman is an island. Under the country’s “Allemansrätten” (literally, “every man’s right”) right-to-roam law, anyone can still visit Wiskemann’s island whenever they please, even camp out there. 

“It’s actually more of a representative role that I have, rather than one where I really have any say in decisions or have the authority to make them,” she explained. 

“The most important thing is mainly that I uphold this right of public access – meaning that, in effect, anyone is allowed to walk on, across or around the island – and that I don’t get the idea of putting up a fence around it.”