| Fontane Prize of the City of Neuruppin | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | authors of artistic literature who work in Brandenburg and who have already achieved their first literary success |
| Location | Neuruppin |
| Country | Germany |
| Reward(s) | €40,000 |
| First awarded | 1994 |
| Website | www |
The Fontane Prize of the City of Neuruppin was donated in 1994 on the occasion of the 175th birthday of Theodor Fontane from his native city of Neuruppin. Since 2019: Fontane-Literaturpreis der Fontanestadt Neuruppin und des Landes Brandenburg.[1]
The Fontane Literature Prize has several predecessors.[2][3] It was awarded for the first time from 1913 to 1922, among others to Annette Kolb, Leonhard Frank, Carl Sternheim and Alfred Döblin.[2] After 1949 there were two Fontane Prizes: The West Berlin Prize went to Hermann Kasack, Peter Huchel, Uwe Johnson, Arno Schmidt, Günter Grass, Wolf Biermann and Wolfgang Hilbig.[2] Walter Kaufmann, Christa Wolf and Helga Schütz, for example, received the prize from the GDR district of Potsdam.[2] In 1994 the Fontane Literature Prize was re-established by Theodor Fontane's birthplace Neuruppin, and since 2010 it has been awarded every two years with the support of the patron Hans E. Weber.[2] The award winners included Lutz Seiler, Moritz von Uslar, Christoph Ransmayr and Josef Bierbichler.[2] In 2019, the Fontane Literature Prize was awarded jointly for the first time by the Fontane City of Neuruppin and the State of Brandenburg.[4] The aim is to support authors of artistic literature every two years who work in Brandenburg and who have already achieved their first literary success.[4] The award is intended to enable talented contemporary authors with their first successful publications to devote themselves to writing for two years.[5] For this purpose, both partners are providing a total of 40,000 euros[6] as a grant over a period of 24 months.[4][7] The winners are selected by an external jury. The award is announced every two years.[4]