Stefan Heym Prizes are awarded
The Stefan Heym Sponsorship Prizes, awarded for the first time by the City of Chemnitz, will be presented to the winners on Sunday afternoon during a ceremony at the Schauspielhaus theatre by Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig.
Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig: "We are experiencing a premiere today: the Stefan Heym Sponsorship Awards are being presented for the first time - and I am particularly proud that there are five of them. These Stefan Heym Sponsorship Awards go to very different projects and endeavours. And that also makes me very happy. Because it shows that Stefan Heym, the great son and honorary citizen of our city, still has something to say.
We have deliberately focussed on projects where dealing with Stefan Heym means making discoveries. For young people, for example, for whom the life of Stefan Heym opens doors to other eras, while the messages of his works reach right up to the present day. Or for researchers, whose desire to track down connections still finds an incredible amount of material. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Board of Trustees, who have dedicated themselves to the search for the prizewinners with the same enthusiasm and meticulousness as they usually do when selecting the "major" literary prizewinner."
The decision to award the sponsorship prizes was made by the Board of Trustees of the International Stefan Heym Prize of the City of Chemnitz. The sponsorship prizes are awarded in addition to the International Stefan Heym Prize, which is endowed with 20,000 euros. The aim was to recognise projects and initiatives in the field of science and research or estate management, for scholarships or to support projects with pupils or students that deal with the life and/or work of Stefan Heym in a special way. A total of 20,000 euros was also available for this purpose.
All natural and legal persons, initiatives, institutions, private and public organisations and associations were eligible to apply for funding. The sponsored measures are to be realised in the period between two awards of the International Stefan Heym Prize.
The winners of the Stefan Heym Prizes and the jury's reasons for awarding them
- Stefan Heym Competition for Young Literature
Karl-Schmidt-Rottluff-Gymnasium School Promotion Association, represented by headmaster Ronald Langhoff (4,000 euros)
The competition encourages young adolescents to follow Stefan Heym's example - to write. The young people actively engage artistically with the reality around them. In view of the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Karl-Schmidt-Rottluff-Gymnasium in 2018, the Board of Trustees considers the compilation of the best entries from all the competitions in a volume of poetry to be a fitting tribute to the long-standing commitment of the pupils, but also to those responsible for the project at Stefan Heym's former school.
- Stefan Heym and the 800th anniversary celebrations in Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1965. A journey through time with the Stefan Heym Award
Historian Dr Jürgen Nitsche (3,000 euros)
In the opinion of the board of trustees, the project is a field of research that has not yet been explored. Not only is there a close connection to Stefan Heym's life and the history of the city of Chemnitz, but further links to Stefan Heym's life, such as his relationship with companions during this time, are to be expected.
- Archive trip to Cambridge
International Stefan Heym Society e. V., represented by Prof Dr Bernadette Malinowski (2,600 euros)
The Board of Trustees recognises the potential of an exploratory trip to the Stefan Heym Archive in Cambridge by the Chair of Modern German and Comparative Literature as a source of academic desiderata, but also as a prelude to the establishment of a focus on the academic study of Stefan Heym in a Stefan Heym Research Centre in the city of Chemnitz.
- "Heym-liche Welt" scientific propaedeutic seminar
Theresia-Gerhardinger-Gymnasium Munich, represented by Elisabeth Neuhaus (2,500 euros)
In the opinion of the Board of Trustees, the discussion of Stefan Heym by pupils from the girls' grammar school in Munich in the context of a science propaedeutic seminar and the working visit to Chemnitz are excellently suited to passing on the memory of Stefan Heym to the younger generation and an opportunity for the pupils to actively draw lessons from Stefan Heym's life.
- "HEYMAT - HOME, WHAT IS THAT?"
Association Kunstzone Schwarzenberg-Aue e. V., represented by Jörg Beier (2,500 euros)
The Board of Trustees recognises and finances the part of the project in which school pupils deal with the concept of home as part of an educationally supervised school project. The concept of home is explored in the context of Stefan Heym's life and at the same time allows the pupils to address current issues.
The jury awarded a total of 14,600 euros in accordance with the competition entries submitted. The jury saved the remaining 5,400 euros of the total 20,000 euros for later awards.
Closing of the event year
The award ceremony will be followed by a staged reading of "The Unknown Heym" on the small stage in the Schauspielhaus, which will bring the International Stefan Heym Society's year of events to a close.
Background to the International Stefan Heym Prize
Every three years, the International Stefan Heym Prize of the City of Chemnitz is awarded to outstanding authors and publicists. In April 2017, the Polish writer and journalist Joanna Bator was honoured with the €20,000 International Stefan Heym Prize of the City of Chemnitz. Before her, the prize was awarded to Amos Oz (2008), Bora Ćosić (2011) and Christoph Hein in 2013. Since 2017, in addition to the International Stefan Heym Prize, Stefan Heym Sponsorship Prizes worth 20,000 euros have also been awarded.