When ISI was founded in October 2024, much still looked like improvisation. The communications team only joined in February, while the institute was simultaneously forming and initial projects were taking shape. The atmosphere was reminiscent of the exciting opening minutes of a theatre rehearsal, in which everyone knew that something was about to happen, just not exactly how.

Without final office space, with changing jobs in the sociology of LMU and with an infrastructure that had to be set up in parallel, something was created at this early stage that would actually deserve its own time window: our Inaugural Report. A 34-page booklet that did not opt for the usual mix of footnote weight and PDF distance, but instead for clear language, curiosity, storytelling and open conversation with the public.

The fact that this experiment is now receiving three awards feels more than great. Die FOX AWARDS honored our report in the efficiency category and also honored it for its visual quality. The jury was impressed by a university report that reads like a well-done magazine without losing scientific precision. She praised the clarity, the small moments of surprise and the performance of a team that can be described as minimalistic with a clear conscience. We liked this sentence the most at the award ceremony: “The jury noticed the approach of unusually understandable language, which is still uncommon in science.”

And then came the next message, which made us pause for a moment at our coffee cups. At International Creative Media Awards, an international competition with 362 submissions from 23 countries, our report also received an award. In the Custom Media category, he impressed with a mix of journalistic ease and analytical concentration, in the midst of strong international competition. The ICMA honors formats that combine sophistication and readability. We are very pleased to receive this recognition.

That all this was created in a phase in which we are still wandering between campus corridors without our own office space, at the same time the first ISI Conference Organizing and building a media landscape from the ground up makes these awards special for us. An unbelievable amount has happened since February. From spring 2026, we will finally move into rooms that we can actually call our office.

Until then, we'll enjoy the moment. And we are — really — delighted to receive these awards. This was just the beginning.

‍

‍