'No specific obligations': German student wins remote Swedish island

German student Miriam Wiskemann has become one of five people worldwide to win the right to manage a small Swedish island for a year as part a tourism campaign by the Swedish Tourist Board.

The 27-year-old from Dusseldorf was selected as one of the winners of the international “Your Swedish Island” campaign, which attracted 2,242 applications from 100 countries. The other winners come from Canada, the United States, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Each how has their own secluded island for the next 12 months.

Wiskemann's island is Marsten. It lies off Sweden’s west coast and measures around 180 metres in length and just over 50 metres in width. The rocky outcrop is home mainly to cormorant waterbirds.

"There are no specific obligations," Miriam Wiskemann told dpa. 

The main requirement is that the five winners do not interfere with Sweden’s right of public access, which allows others to continue visiting or crossing the land.

Wiskemann does not have to stay on the island for a year, which is just as well, as, according to the local council, there is no accommodation on Marsten anyway. 

The island consists only of rocks and was colonized by cormorants in the 1990s. It is accessible only by kayak or stand-up paddleboard and lies around six kilometres off the west coast of Sweden in an archipelago near a nature reserve.

Wiskemann plans to visit her island with a friend in late August or early September. "The main prize is actually the journey there," she says. 

In addition to the certificate appointing her as the island’s caretaker, the organizers say there is a travel voucher worth 20,000 Swedish kronor ($2,135).

The 27-year-old is an illustrator and is studying at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in the German city of Halle. She said she also wants to use the stay for her bachelor’s thesis.