The Ludwig Börne Prize () is a

literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded Literature, literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award c ...

that is awarded annually by the Frankfurt-based Ludwig-Börne-Stiftung. It is one of the most important of its kind in German-speaking countries.

Objective and methods

In 1992 the banker and publicist Michael A. Gotthelf established a foundation that annually awards the Ludwig-Börne-Preis to a German-speaking author, acknowledging his or her outstanding performances in the fields of essays, reviews and reportage. Thus, the foundation celebrates the memory of the Frankfurt author, revolutionary democrat and political journalist

Ludwig Börne Karl Ludwig Börne (born Judah Löw Baruch; 6 May 1786 – 12 February 1837) was a German-Jewish political writer and satirist, who is considered part of the Young Germany movement. Early life Karl Ludwig Börne was born Loeb Baruch on 6 M ...

(1786–1837) and his works. A judge is nominated by the foundation board, for the sole responsibility of deciding who will win this award. This judge, moreover, makes a speech in the winner’s honor. The prize is worth 20,000 euros and its presentation takes place in St. Paul's Church in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. In 2010 the foundation for the first time awarded a Börne Honorary Medal to Marcel Reich-Ranicki for his lifetime achievements.

Foundation board

Founder and chairman of Ludwig-Börne-Stiftung is Michael A. Gotthelf. The foundation board is made up of Salomon Korn (chairman of the Jewish community in Frankfurt),

Peter Feldmann Peter Manuel Feldmann (born 7 October 1958) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). On 25 March 2012, he was elected Mayor of Frankfurt as successor of Petra Roth (CDU). On 6 November 2022, he was recalled, with 95% of ...

(mayor of Frankfurt), Ina Hartwig (head of the Frankfurt culture department),

Hubert Burda Hubert Burda (born 9 February 1940) is a German billionaire publisher. He is the owner, publisher and general partner of Hubert Burda Media, a global media company of more than 600 media products, including websites, print magazines and other ...

(

Hubert Burda Media Hubert Burda Media Holding is a German media group with headquarters in Offenburg. It originated as a small printing business, founded by Franz Burda Snr in Philippsburg, in 1903. In 1986, the corporate group was divided up between Franz Jnr, ...

) and Thomas Bellut (

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

director general), ().

Award winners

*1993:

Joachim Kaiser Joachim Kaiser (18 December 1928 – 11 May 2017) was a German musicologist, critic, and journalist. He worked as a senior editor and cultural critic for the ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' from 1959, contributing reviews and articles on music, literatur ...

, editor *1994: Marie-Luise Scherer, author *1995: Marcel Reich-Ranicki, publicist and literary critic *1996: Joachim C. Fest, publicist, author and contemporary historian *1997: , philosopher and Protestant theologian *1998:

Josef Joffe Josef Joffe (born 15 March 1944) is a former publisher-editor of ''Die Zeit'', a weekly German newspaper. His second career has been in academia. Appointed Senior Fellow of Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies in 2007 (a ...

, publicist, publisher and lecturer *1999:

Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt (born 2 May 1928) is a French writer and translator of German origin. Biography Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt was born in Reinbek near Hamburg, into a Jewish family of magistrates converted to Protestantism. His fath ...

, author and translator *2000: ''no award'' *2001:

Rudolf Augstein Rudolf Karl Augstein (5 November 1923 – 7 November 2002) was a German journalist, editor, publicist, and politician. He was one of the most influential German journalists, founder and part-owner of magazine. As a politician, he was a member o ...

, journalist, publisher and publicist *2002:

Hans Magnus Enzensberger Hans Magnus Enzensberger (11 November 1929 – 24 November 2022) was a German author, poet, translator, and editor. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Andreas Thalmayr, Elisabeth Ambras, Linda Quilt and Giorgio Pellizzi. Enzensberger was regarde ...

, poet, author and editor *2003:

George Steiner Francis George Steiner, Fellow of the British Academy#Fellowship, FBA (April 23, 1929 – February 3, 2020) was a Franco-American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist and educator. He wrote extensively about the relationship between ...

, author, philosopher and cultural critic *2004: Daniela Dahn, journalist and author *2005: , editorPersonenbeschreibung
on perlentaucher.de *2006: , journalist and author *2007: Henryk M. Broder, journalist and author *2008:

Alice Schwarzer Alice Sophie Schwarzer (born 3 December 1942) is a German journalist and prominent feminist. She is founder and publisher of the German feminist journal '' EMMA''. Beginning in France, she became a forerunner of feminist positions against anti-ab ...

, women’s rights’ activist and publisher *2009: Frank Schirrmacher, journalist, publisher and author *2010: Marcel Reich-Ranicki (medal for his life work) *2011:

Joachim Gauck Joachim Wilhelm Gauck (; born 24 January 1940) is a German politician who served as President of Germany from 2012 to 2017. A former Lutheran pastor, he came to prominence as an anti-communist civil rights activist in East Germany. During the P ...

, President of Germany, civil rights activist and publicist *2012:

Götz Aly Götz Haydar Aly (; born 3 May 1947) is a German journalist, historian and political scientist. Life and career Aly was born in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg. He is a patrilineal descendant of a Turkish convert to Christianity named Friedrich ...

, historian and journalist *2013:

Peter Sloterdijk Peter Sloterdijk (; ; born 26 June 1947) is a German philosopher and cultural theorist. He was a professor of philosophy and media theory at and Rector from 2001 to 2015 of the University of Art and Design Karlsruhe. He co-hosted the German tel ...

, philosopher and essayist *2014: Florian Illies, journalist and author *2015: Jürgen Kaube, journalist and publisher *2016: , journalist *2017:

Rüdiger Safranski Rüdiger Safranski (born 1 January 1945) is a German philosopher and author. Life From 1965 to 1972, Safranski studied philosophy (among others, with Theodor W. Adorno), German literature, history and history of art at Goethe University ...

, philosopher *2018:

Souad Mekhennet Souad Mekhennet is an investigative journalist who has covered some of the most challenging stories of our times for ''The Washington Post'', ''The New York Times'', ''The Daily Beast'', ''International Herald Tribune'', ''Frankfurter Allgemeine ...

, journalist *2019:

Eva Menasse Eva Menasse (born 11 May 1970 in Vienna) is an Austrian author and journalist. She has studied history and German literature. Menasse had a successful career as a journalist, writing for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in Frankfurt F ...

, writer *2020:

Christoph Ransmayr Christoph Ransmayr (; born 20 March 1954) is an Austrian writer. Life Born in Wels, Upper Austria, Ransmayr grew up in Roitham near Gmunden and the Traunsee. From 1972 to 1978 he studied philosophy and ethnology in Vienna. He worked there as ...

, writer *2022: , journalist *2023

Robert Habeck Robert Habeck (; born 2 September 1969) is a German politician (Alliance 90/The Greens) and writer who served as Vice Chancellor of Germany, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action in the cabinet of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and ...

, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action * 2024

Daniel Kehlmann Daniel Kehlmann (; born 13 January 1975) is a German-language novelist and playwright of both Austrian and German nationality.Dan Diner, Israeli-German historian and political writer

References

Literature

* : Essay – BRD. Vorwerk 8, Berlin 2011, , pp. 120–122.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ludwig Borne Prize German literary awards 1992 establishments in Germany Awards established in 1992 Culture in Frankfurt Literary awards of Hesse