International Stefan Heym Prize: Board of Trustees can support additional projects and initiatives in future
City council decides to amend the statutes
At its meeting yesterday, the City Council approved the amendment to the statutes of the City of Chemnitz on the awarding of the International Stefan Heym Prize of the City of Chemnitz. In future, the International Stefan Heym Prize of the City of Chemnitz will be endowed with 20,000 euros. In addition, 20,000 euros will be awarded to projects and initiatives in the areas of research and estate management, for scholarships and to support school projects that deal with the life and work of Stefan Heym in a special way.
The experience of the first three award ceremonies has shown that, in addition to honouring contemporary and courageous writers and publicists with the international literature prize, accompanying initiatives, research and projects by schoolchildren and students are also worthy of funding and support.
In future, the prizewinner will receive a certificate of the award of the International Stefan Heym Prize of the City of Chemnitz and prize money totalling 20,000 euros. A further 20,000 euros will be awarded for projects, initiatives or research plans and projects.
As before, a board of trustees will decide on the awarding of the International Stefan Heym Prize and the support of additional measures. The patron of the Board of Trustees is Inge Heym. In future, the Board of Trustees will comprise nine members with equal rights. Born members of the Board of Trustees are the Lord Mayor of the City of Chemnitz, the President of the P.E.N. Centre Germany, the President of the Goethe-Institut, the Director of C. Bertelsmann Verlag and the Chairperson of the International Society for Human Rights (IGFM) - German Section. The Board of Trustees also includes two members of the Cultural Committee of the City of Chemnitz. In order to further expand cooperation with the International Stefan Heym Society and the Faculty of Philosophy at Chemnitz University of Technology, the Chair of the International Stefan Heym Society and Prof Dr Bernadette Malinowski from Chemnitz University of Technology will be represented on the Board of Trustees in future.
The International Stefan Heym Prize of the City of Chemnitz is awarded in memory of the son and honorary citizen of the city to contemporary and courageous personalities who, like Stefan Heym, have made outstanding and lasting achievements as writers or publicists. Previous winners include Amos Oz (2008), Bora Ćosić (2011) and Christoph Hein (2013).