Overview

• The new award honors fiction released on the German market in 2025, explicitly including translated works alongside German-language originals.
• Der Spiegel named a seven-member jury featuring academics, critics, and the magazine’s literature editors Eva Horn, Juliane Liebert, Miryam Schellbach, Nora Zukker, Sebastian Hammelehle, Xaver von Cranach, and Elisa von Hof.
• A full list of 20 nominated titles has been released, spanning German and international authors such as Natasha Brown, Kamel Daoud, Dorothee Elmiger, Percival Everett, and Yasmina Reza.
• SPIEGEL.de will reveal the jury’s ranking one slot per day starting with No. 20 on November 3, with the top three and the winner presented on November 20 alongside special coverage in issue 48/2025.
• The prize is reported as undotated and is supported by partners genialokal.de and Media Control, with editor-in-chief Dirk Kurbjuweit framing it as a new national-level competition.