In 1990 Thomas Hergenröther had organised the first forerunner of the BOTY in Hannover (Germany). The event was supported by his group Burning Moves. There were 9 crews and 400 visitors to find out who is the best B-Boy crew. Up to the present the figure of visitors has grown to approx. 4000 visitors accordingly the number of organisation staffs and supporting teams has grown. In 1991 MZEE started their supporting work.

In 1995 From HereTo Fame GmbH has become one of the promoters of the battle (MZEE is a division of FHTF). Thomas Hergenröther is responsible for the contents of the event (dancing crews, DJs, judges, hosts,..) while FHTF realises and organises the event.

BOTY becomes more and more international and that means more and more popular. So the capacity of the venues grows and every year there are some more key men in the BOTY-team. One of their aims is to integrate young and motivated people. And it's necessary to do it because it is getting harder and harder to fulfill all the claims.

In summer 1999 Thomas Hergenröther and the main staff of the event split up with the From HereTo Fame GmbH and found a new agency with SMO (Münster) which hold the event in the year 2000 together with Thomas Hergenröther and which is a well known German event agency putting their main emphasis on youth culture and trendsport events like for example the "Münster Monster" - Skateboard Worldchampionships.

Since janurary 2001 the new full event partner is the Backspin Magazine/ Falk & Petering OHG which now in association with the "Battle of the Year" Headoffice/ Hergenröther & Ilsemann GbR is the event organizer.

After in the year 2000 the BOTY took place at the EXPO 2000 in Hannover with almost 10.000 attending spectators and artists from all over the world, in the year 2001 the BOTY found a new location and city with the Volkswagen Halle in Braunschweig. About 9.000 people attended the 2001 event. After mostly positive feedback from 2001 the BOTY Team decided to stay in Braunschweig in the same location for the following years! Since then the BOTY feels very home and welcome in the whole city of Brauschweig.

Philosophy of "Battle Of The Year"

Every year we try to feature the best and most innovative B-Boy crews from all over the world. One of our goals is to make this event as international as possible. The Battle Of The Year is a platform for B-Boys and Hip Hop culture in general and an opportunity for all participants to express themselves in a peaceful and non-racist environment.

The BOTY is up to this day a non-profit event which is a merit of the honorary workers and sponsors that make this competition happen with their help. Since 1996 we try to integrate young and motivated people willing to take part in the planning and implementation process of the BOTY.

One example is the SWAT-posse from Berlin which is a constant component of the organisation team. Through their aspiration to work nationally they also got to know the WOSTOK MOB from Thüringen. And there are many others who are down since day one and did a lot to make all this happen.

The BOTY doesn't only support talented B-Boys but also gives the youth a chance to be creative and show their talents in other subjects like administration and organisation. Due to this we still try to guarantee best conditions for the dancers and the event as a whole including relatively low prices.

Though it is getting difficult to find adequate locations for this event that is growing every year we won't exclude nobody that wants to take part. But the number of participating crews as well as the future of the BOTY depends on our budget and sponsor contributions.

Institutions and companies need to realize that this event reflects juvenile culture and contributes to social understanding worldwide like few others do...