Roswitha Prize

Namesake Roswitha

The Roswitha Prize is a German literature prize that is awarded exclusively to women. This honors an outstanding individual literary achievement by a writer living and working in Europe. The work can belong to any area of literary creation.

The Roswitha Prize was awarded annually from 1973 to 1996 as the Roswitha Memorial Medal by the city of Bad Gandersheim . In 1998 it was renamed to today's name and has been endowed with 5,500 euros since then. The award is named after the first German poet Roswitha von Gandersheim .

history

Bad Gandersheim donated the literature prize in 1973, initially as a commemorative medal. This was always given on the last Friday of the Frankfurt Book Fair in Frankfurt's Römer to a living writer. The prerequisite was their ability to speak German and a commitment to a life's work. This practice was in place until 1996.

In 1998 the medal was renamed the Roswitha Prize and immediately awarded in Bad Gandersheim, the place where it was named. Individual scientific works can now also be used as award criteria, whereby the research object must come from the scientific areas that Roswitha von Gandersheim dealt with. The statutes say: “... this work should focus on topics that look at an era or society from the perspective of literature or philosophy.” Topics from the fields of philosophy, music theory and mathematics can also be included. The group of award winners has been expanded to include the European level.

jury

The jury can consist of up to nine members, excluding politicians and administrative staff. The previous year's winner is automatically a member of the jury for the following year. Nobody can win the award twice. The city of Gandersheim can nominate up to 8 voluntary and independent persons who meet once a year for advice.