Published on 5/29/2026
The Swedish Tourism Authority announced the selection of German student Miriam Fiskemann among the group of winners of the international campaign “Your Swedish Island”, to take over the management of the small island of Marsten for a full year.
Miriam, who is 27 years old and lives in the city of Halle in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, eastern Germany, will become the “manager” of an island no more than 180 meters long and a little over 50 meters wide, inhabited by cormorants, and located on the western coast of Sweden.
Sweden officially includes 267,570 islands, which is the largest number of islands in the world compared to any other country, according to data from the Tourism Authority. The campaign offered 5 islands for management for a year each, and the competition received 2,242 applications from 100 countries, while the other winners came from Canada, the United States of America, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
“No special obligations.” Just respect for everyone’s rights
In statements to the German News Agency, Fiskemann, who is originally from the city of Dusseldorf in western Germany, said that “there are no special obligations” associated with the new position. She explained that the most important condition is to respect the Swedish “Everyone’s Right Law,” which allows people to visit and pass through the island’s land, and not to make decisions that limit this right.
However, Fiskemann is not obligated to live on the island all year round. According to the municipality, there are no living places on Marsten at all, as it consists entirely of rocks, and cormorants have settled there since the 1990s. It can only be reached by kayak or paddleboard, and is located about 6 kilometers from the western coast of Sweden, within an archipelago close to a nature reserve.
Myriam says she plans to visit her “island” with a friend at the end of August or the beginning of September, adding: “The real prize is the trip there.” In addition to her certificate of appointment as director of the island, the winners receive a travel voucher worth 20,000 Swedish krona (about 1,900 dollars).
Art, drawings…and a garden of ideas in Scandinavian nature
Fiskemann works as an illustrator and is studying at the Burg Gebichenstein Art College in Halle. She explains that she wants to invest this experience in preparing her bachelor’s thesis, as the nature in Sweden inspires and impresses her in particular.
After finishing high school, Miriam studied for a few semesters in Scandinavian studies and learned the Swedish language. She also recently lived for a year in Stockholm, strengthening her connection to the country and its culture.
Fiskiman participated in the competition via a one-minute video clip that she posted on the Instagram platform, in response to a campaign launched by the Swedish authorities to promote its vast archipelago of islands, and to provide the opportunity to “manage an island” – albeit symbolically – to a number of visitors from around the world.
