Hessian Cultural Prize

Hessian Cultural Prize
Awarded for	special achievements in art, science and cultural mediation
Sponsored by	Government of Hesse
Location	Hesse
Country	Germany
Reward(s)	45,000 Euro
Website	Official website

The Hessian Cultural Prize (German: Hessischer Kulturpreis) is an annual German culture prize awarded by the Government of Hesse. The prize was established in 1982. With a trophy of 60,000 German marks, now 45,000 Euro, it is currently the highest endowed culture prize in Germany.

Recipients

• 1982 – Eugen Kogon (political scientist); Thomas Michael Mayer (chairman, Georg Büchner Association)
• 1983 – Karl Krolow (lyricist); Hans-Jürgen von Bose (composer); Ror Wolf (author)
• 1984 – Bernard Schultze (painter); Albert Mangelsdorff (jazz trombonist)
• 1985 – Michael Gielen (conductor and composer); Ludwig Denecke  [ de ] and Heinz Rölleke  [ de ] (German philologists)
• 1986 – Karl Dedecius (translator); D. E. Sattler  [ de ] (Hölderlin scholar)
• 1987 – Volker Schlöndorff (film director); E. R. Nele (sculptor); Ev Grüger (painter)
• 1988 – Gabriele Wohmann (author)
• 1989 – Adolf Dresen  [ ru ] (film director); Judith Rosenbauer (actor)
• 1990 – Horst Krüger (novelist); Egbert Strolka (Tänzer und Ballettmeister)
• 1991 – Horst Antes (painter und sculptor); Helmut Burmeister (museum director); Gerd J. Grein  [ de ] (museum director)
• 1992 – Eilke Brigitte Helm (physician); Marcel Ophüls (documentary director); Ensemble Modern
• 1993 – Hans-Albert Walter  [ de ] (philologist); F. K. Waechter (author); Heiner Goebbels (composer)
• 1994 – Lucius Burckhardt and Annemarie Burckhardt (sociologists); Peter Urban (translator); Adelheid Hoffmann and Hans-Jürgen „Slu“ Slusallek (galerists)
• 1995 – Margret Stuffmann (museum director); William Forsythe (choreographer); Karlheinz Braun  [ de ] (publicist)
• 1996 – Klaus Reichert  [ de ] (anglicist); Klappmaul Theater (youth theater company); Walter Boehlich (author and translator)
• 1997 – Odo Marquard (philosopher); Anna Viebrock (scenic designer); Ute Gerhard (sociologist, gender studies)
• 1998 – Wolf Singer (neuroscientist); Thomas Bayrle (painter); Mischka Popp and Thomas Bergmann (director)
• 1999 – Jürgen Habermas (philosopher); Marcel Reich-Ranicki (literary critic); Siegfried Unseld (publisher)
• 2000 – Barbara Klemm (photographer); Helga Fanderl (film director); José Luis Encarnação (information scientist)
• 2001 – Gottfried Kiesow  [ de ] (historic preservator); Paul Posenenske, Berthold Penkhues and Christoph Mäckler  [ eu ] (architects)
• 2002 – Tabea Zimmermann (violist); Hans Zender (composer and conductor); Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt
• 2003 – Florian Illies (publicist); Nicolaus Schafhausen (curator); Til Schweiger (actor)
• 2004 – Andrea Breth (film director); Jürgen Holtz (actor); Klaus Völker  [ de ] (dramaturge)
• 2005 – no award
• 2006 – Christine Schäfer (soprano); Christoph Prégardien (tenor); Lothar Zagrosek (conductor)
• 2007 – René Block  [ de ] (galerist); Klaus Gallwitz  [ de ] and Klaus Herding  [ de ] (arts historians)
• 2008 – Wolfgang Diefenbach (orchestra director); Albrecht Beutelspacher (mathematician); Kindertheaterbürooo Kassel (Stefan Becker, Günter Staniewski)
• 2009 – Salomon Korn (Jewish community leader); Karl Lehmann (Cardinal); Peter Steinacker  [ pl ] (former Protestant church leader); Navid Kermani (author, Islam scholar) rejected: Fuat Sezgin (Islam scholar) ^[1]
• 2010 – Rebecca Horn (visual artist)
• 2011 – Dieter Rams (designer); F. C. Gundlach (photographer); Gunter Rambow  [ de ] (visual artist)
• 2012 – Hilmar Hoffmann (former president of the Goethe-Institut)
• 2013 – Wolf D. Prix (architect)
• 2014 – Peter Härtling (author)
• 2015 – Artistic directors of documenta I–XIII
• 2016 – Andreas Scholl (countertenor) and Tamar Halperin (harpsichordist and pianist) ^[2]
• 2017 – Volker Mosbrugger (paleontologist) and Matthias Lutz-Bachmann (philosoph)
• 2018 – Margareta Dillinger and Johnny Klinke (Tigerpalast Frankfurt); Regina Oehler–van Gemmeren (science journalist hr), Andreas Platthaus (journalist FAZ) and Heike Schmoll (political correspondent FAZ)
• 2019 – Wolfgang Lorch and Andrea Wandel (Wandel Lorch Architekten, architects) ^[3]
• 2020 – Caricatura Museum Frankfurt and Caricatura Gallery in Kassel ^[4]
• 2021 – Sandra Ciesek and Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim ^[5]
• 2022 – Anne Bohnenkamp-Renken (director Freies Deutsches Hochstift) ^[6]
• 2023 – Bernd Loebe (intendant Oper Frankfurt) ^[7]
• 2024 – Mirjam Wenzel (director Jewish Museum Frankfurt) ^[8]

References

1. "German-Iranian author receives culture prize after religious row". Deutsche Welle . 27 November 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
2. "Hessischer Kulturpreis / Countertenor und Pianistin ausgezeichnet" (in German). Hessenschau. 4 November 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
3. Santifaller, Enrico (20 September 2019). "Hessischer Kulturpreis für Wolfgang Lorch und Andrea Wandel". BauNetz (in German). Berlin. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
4. "Caricatura erhält Hessischen Kulturpreis". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). 18 November 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
5. "Hessischer Kulturpreis: Ciesek und Nguyen-Kim für Corona-Aufklärung ausgezeichnet". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 27 October 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
6. "Prof. Dr. Anne Bohnenkamp-Renken erhält den Hessischen Kulturpreis 2022". hessen.de. 18 March 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
7. "Hessischer Kulturpreis an Opernintendant Loebe". MUSIK HEUTE (in German). 11 April 2024. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
8. "Hessischer Kulturpreis 2024 für Mirjam Wenzel". hessen.de (in German). 14 March 2025. Retrieved 6 July 2025.

External links

• Official website (in German)