Maaike Cafmeyer is West Flemish Ambassador 2022

It is the fifth time that De Krant van West-Vlaanderen, Radio 2, Focus and WTV and the provincial council went in search of a West-Flemish who delivered a strong performance last year and who ‘breathes West-Flanders’, as jury chairman Michel D Hooghe said.

“West Flanders in my honor”

Like no other, Maaike Cafmeyer, with roots in Torhout, embodies the enthusiasm and grinta of a West Flemish person, as judged by both the professional jury and the readers, viewers and listeners during the voting round in the West Flemish media. “A compliment from your own ‘family’ is always good. I always come home to Torhout or West Flanders. For me, that title is really special.”, responds the actress. “I carry West Flanders in my erte, absolute! I have always been proud of West Flanders and my dialect. That no-nonsense thing of ‘do it habitual’. Fantastic.” Precisely her juicy West Flemish, which colors her roles in ‘Eigen Kweek’, ‘Bevergem’ and recently in ‘Chantal’, ensures an unseen authenticity and naturalness in her playing.

But Maaike Cafmeyer is also more than an actress. In September, she and fellow actress Elle-June Henrard received the Pi2 prize at the Flemish Mental Health Congress for their ‘non-violent, but vigorous effort against the injustice of transgressive behaviour’.

The ambassador title previously went to Wim Lybaert (2018) and Niels Destadsbader (2019). In the 2020 corona year, the jury chose two laureates: Wim Opbrouck and Saghine Lampaert as the faces of the healthcare sector. Last year, the title went to chocolatier Dominique Persoone.