The Ludwig Börne Prize () is a literary award 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 (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.
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 (former mayor of Frankfurt), Ina Hartwig (head of the Frankfurt culture department), Hubert Burda (Hubert Burda Media) and Thomas Bellut (ZDF director general), ().
: Michael A. Gotthelf Salomon Korn Ina Hartwig Mike Josef Jürgen Kaube
Dieter Graumann
Award winners
1993: Joachim Kaiser, 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, publicist, publisher and lecturer 1999: Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt, author and translator 2000: no award 2001: Rudolf Augstein, journalist, publisher and publicist 2002: Hans Magnus Enzensberger, poet, author and editor 2003: George Steiner, 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, 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, President of Germany, civil rights activist and publicist 2012: Götz Aly, historian and journalist 2013: Peter Sloterdijk, philosopher and essayist 2014: Florian Illies, journalist and author 2015: Jürgen Kaube, journalist and publisher 2016: , journalist 2017: Rüdiger Safranski, philosopher 2018: Souad Mekhennet, journalist 2019: Eva Menasse, writer 2020: Christoph Ransmayr, writer 2022: , journalist 2023: Robert Habeck, writer and (then) politician 2024: Daniel Kehlmann, writer 2025: Dan Diner, Israeli-German historian and political writer 2026: Christopher Clark, historian
References
Literature : Essay – BRD. Vorwerk 8, Berlin 2011, , pp. 120–122.
External links