The German Book Prize’s 2022 jurors are, top row from left, Erich Klein; Frank Menden (image: Marco Hoffmann); Uli Ormanns (image: Marc Reithmeyer); and Isabelle Vonlanthen (image: Ayse Yavas). On the lower row from left, Selma Weis (image: PicturePeople); Jan Wiele (image: T Bonera); and Miriam Zeh (image: Annika Fußwinkel)
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Deadline for Submissions: March 25
As Publishing Perspectives readers know, the German Book Prize is awarded by the Stiftung Buchkultur und Leseförderung des Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, the foundation of Germany’s publishers and booksellers association.
And as we work through the long line of publishing and book awards stories that collide in January and February each year, today’s (February 8) announcement features the newly chosen jury of the German Book Prize and the opening of that program’s submissions process.
The novel of the year is selected through a multiple-stage process.
- First, the jury reviews all novels submitted by publishers and compiles a longlist of 20 titles, which will be announced on August 23.
- From that list, the jurors then select six titles for the shortlist, which will be released on September 20.
- Those six authors will only find out which of them has won the German Book Prize on the evening of the award ceremony itself, which traditionally is held in conjunction with Frankfurter Buchmesse (this year set for October 19 to 23)
The award ceremony will take place on October 17 at the start of the Frankfurt Book Fair in the Kaisersaal of the Römer in Frankfurt. The winner receives prize money of €25,000 (US$28,572). The five finalists each receive €2,500 (US$2,857).
As you’ll remember, Antje Rávik Strubel won the 2021 edition of the prestigious honor in October for Blaue Frau (Blue Woman, S. Fischer Verlage, August 2021).
Each year, a new jury is installed by the German Book Prize Academy to help maintain the selection process’ independence. Multiple stints of jury service are permitted.
This year’s jury is today announced to comprise:
- Erich Klein, freelance critic based in Vienna
- Frank Menden of the Hamburg bookstore named Stories
- Uli Ormanns of Cologne’s Agnes bookstore
- Isabelle Vonlanthen of Literature House Zurich
- Selma Wels, curator and moderator in Frankfurt
- Jan Wiele of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
- Miriam Zehk of Deutschlandfunk Kultur
Submissions Open to Publishers
Submissions now are open and publishers may each put forward two German-language novels from their current or forthcoming list until the March 25 deadline.
A house is also allowed to submit up to five additional titles as recommendations.
- A prerequisite for submission is membership in the German Book Trade Association, the Swiss Booksellers and Publishers Association, or the Main Association of the Austrian Book Trade.
- Books must be released between October 1 of last year and September 20 of this year, the date on which the shortlist is to be announced.
- Books, reading copies, ebooks, and other material can be submitted until June 17.
You can follow the various stages in the prize’s process on social media at hashtag #dbp22.
This is Publishing Perspectives’ 145th awards report published in our 2022 operations year, which began on January 3. (On this story, the number is out of order — it was discovered later that the story didn’t get its number initially in sequence.)
More from Publishing Perspectives on the German Book Prize is here, and on publishing and book awards in general is here. More on the German book market is here.
More from us on the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here.