City of Chemnitz awards International Stefan Heym Prize

The City of Chemnitz is awarding the International Stefan Heym Prizes for projects and initiatives that deal with the life, work and influence of Stefan Heym in a special way. The application phase ends on 31 December 2020. The sponsorship prizes totalling 20,000 euros will be awarded in addition to the International Stefan Heym Prize of the City of Chemnitz.

They are awarded in the form of pro rata prize money, in particular to projects and initiatives in the fields of science, art, culture and research or estate management, for journalistic and documentary work, scholarships or to support projects with schoolchildren or students.

Mayor Barbara Ludwig: "Stefan Heym is a son and honorary citizen of our city. The sponsorship awards have proven to be a great opportunity to pass on Heym's memory to the younger generations. The winners of the first sponsorship awards in 2017 have had very individual experiences, some of them experiences that still have an impact and will continue to have an impact. This has motivated us to organise the sponsorship awards again and make them even better known. I am excited to see what we will find out about Stefan Heym this time or learn from his life and work."

Regula Venske, writer, President of the PEN Centre Germany: "It is remarkable how the city of Chemnitz is cultivating the legacy of the city's great son, Stefan Heym - and one would hope that other cities would take this as an example for dealing with their respective great men or women of letters. In addition to the awarding of the international Stefan Heym Prize, the Stefan Heym Sponsorship Prizes also send out an important signal here: Young people are encouraged to engage critically with literature and literary, philosophical or even socio-political topics as part of school projects, individualised historical research projects and research trips.
historical research projects and research trips are made possible; instead of museum adulation, the focus is on remembrance as a productive dialogue in the here and now. As a member of the board of trustees, I am already looking forward to receiving many interesting submissions."

Individuals, initiatives, institutions, private and public organisations and associations can apply. The sponsored projects should be realised within the three years or so until the next Stefan Heym Prize is awarded. A description of the project (max. two pages in A4 format), a cost and financing plan, a public relations plan for the project and a timetable must be submitted with the application.

The application form can be downloaded from www.stefan-heym-preis.de and is available from the Mayor's Office of the City of Chemnitz.

The winners of the awards will be decided by the Board of Trustees of the International Stefan Heym Prize. The patron of the board of trustees is Inge Heym.

The International Stefan Heym Prizes were awarded for the first time in 2017. Five projects received prize money totalling 14,600 euros.

The 2017 prizewinners were:

• Stefan Heym Competition for Young Literature
  Karl-Schmidt-Rottluff-Gymnasium school support association (4,000 euros)
• Stefan Heym and the 800th anniversary celebrations in Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1965: a journey through time.
  Historian Dr Jürgen Nitsche (3,000 euros)
• Archive trip to Cambridge
  International Stefan Heym Society e. V. (2,600 euros)
• "Heym-liche Welt" scientific propaedeutic seminar
  Theresia-Gerhardinger-Gymnasium Munich (2,500 euros)
• "HEYMAT - HOME, WHAT IS THAT?"
  Association Kunstzone Schwarzenberg-Aue e. V. (2,500 euros)

The International Stefan Heym Prize of the City of Chemnitz

In memory of Stefan Heym, the literary prize, endowed with 20,000 euros, is awarded to contemporary and courageous personalities who, like him, have made outstanding and lasting achievements as writers or publicists. Previous winners include Amos Oz (2008), Bora Ćosić (2011), Christoph Hein (2013) and Joanna Bator (2017). In April 2021, the International Stefan Heym Prize of the City of Chemnitz will be awarded to the Croatian writer and journalist Slavenka Drakulić and the Swedish author and journalist Richard Swartz. You can find more information in the press release PM 749/2019.

More information:www.stefan-heym-preis.de