The Merano Poetry Prize (German: Lyrikpreis Meran) is an international literary prize for German-language poetry that was founded by Alfred Gruber (1929–1998), a South Tyrolian catholic priest and writer. The biennial competition was established in 1993 and is awarded by the South Tyrolean provincial government in the city of Merano ever since. In addition to the main award (1. Preis), which is endowed with €8,000, usually two further prizes are awarded, the Alfred Gruber Prize (Alfred-Gruber-Preis, endowed with €3,500) and the Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster South Tyrol (Medienpreis der RAI Südtirol, endowed with €2,500).
The Merano Poetry Prize is considered highly prestigious. The Austrian national public broadcaster ORF called it "one of the most important literary competitions in the German-speaking world ([einer] der wichtigsten Literaturwettbewerbe seiner Gattung im deutschen Sprachraum)".
Winners
1993 Kurt Drawert [de] 1994 Kathrin Schmidt 1996 Sepp Mall 1998 Jürgen Nendza 2000 Lutz Seiler 2002 Oswald Egger [de] and Sylvia Geist 2004 1. Prize: Michael Donhauser Alfred Gruber Prize: Jan Wagner Advancement award: Silke Scheuermann 2006 1. Prize: Ulrike Almut Sandig Alfred Gruber Prize: Ulf Stolterfoht Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster Bolzano: Andreas Neeser 2008 1. Prize: Martina Hefter [de] Alfred Gruber Prize: Monika Rinck Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster Bolzano: Uljana Wolf Preis der Jury: Nikola Richter 2010 1. Prize: Andre Rudolph [de] Alfred Gruber Prize: Sünje Lewejohann Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster Bolzano: Carsten Zimmermann Preis der Jury: Christian Rosenau 2012 1. Prize: Uwe Kolbe Alfred-Gruber-Preis: Christoph Wenzel Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster Bolzano: Katrin Fellner 2014 1. Preis: Thomas Kunst [de] Alfred Gruber Prize: Tom Schulz Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster South Tyrol: Jan Volker Röhnert 2016 1. Prize: Konstantin Ames Alfred Gruber Prize: Markus R. Weber Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster South Tyrol: Mikael Vogel 2018 1. Prize: Kerstin Preiwuß Alfred Gruber Prize: Martin Piekar Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster South Tyrol: Eberhard Häfner 2021 1. Prize: Dagmara Kraus [de] Alfred Gruber Prize: Mara-Daria Cojocaru 3. Preis: Marcus Neuert 2022 1. Prize: Guy Helminger Alfred Gruber Prize: Paul-Henri Campbell Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster South Tyrol: Alexandra Bernhardt [de]
2024 1. Prize: Tamara Štajner Alfred Gruber Prize: Esther Dischereit [de] Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster South Tyrol: Sebastian Schmidt
2026 1. Prize: Heinz Peter Geißler Alfred Gruber Prize: Verica Tričković Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster South Tyrol: Hartwig Mauritz
References
Further reading
Delle Cave, Ferruccio, and Hanni, Martin. Lyrik im Gespräch. Der Lyrikpreis Meran. Ed. by Folio Verlag, Vienna and Bolzano 2010, . (An excerpt of the book can be found here: https://www.planetlyrik.de/ferruccio-delle-cave-martin-hanni-hrsg-lyrik-im-gesprach/2010/07/)
Gmünder, Stefan: Ein Wettlesen in leisen Formen. Uwe Kolbe gewinnt den Meraner Lyrikpreis, der auch insgesamt mit hoher Qualität beeindruckte. In: Der Standard. 6 May 2012. (Retrievable online at: https://www.derstandard.at/story/1334797152793/lyrik-ein-wettlesen-in-leisen-formen) Hell, Cornelius: Meraner Meriten. In: Die Furche. 20 May 2004. (Retrievable online at: http://www.planetlyrik.de/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Cornelius-Hell-Meraner-Meriten.pdf)
Wiesmüller, Wolfgang: Germanistik und literarisches Leben der Region. Am Beispiel des Meraner Lyrikpreises. In: Germanistik im Spannungsfeld von Regionalität und Internationalität. Ed. by Wolfgang Hackl and Wolfgang Wiesmüller. Wien: Praesens 2010 (=Stimulus. Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Germanistik 2009), S. 167–184 (in collaboration with S. Klettenhammer). Wiesmüller, Wolfgang: Literaturpreise als Institutionen der Literaturvermittlung. Der Darmstädter Leonce-und-Lena-Preis und der Lyrikpreis Meran im Vergleich. In: Perspektiven der Literaturvermittlung. Ed. by Stefan Neuhaus and Oliver Ruf. Innsbruck-Wien-Bozen: StudienVerlag 2011 (=Angewandte Literaturwissenschaft, Vol. 13), S.115–132 (in collaboration with S. Klettenhammer)
External links
Official website (with a list of all the winners since 2012)