German Book Prize 2025: meet the jury
Seven jury members selected / Publishers may submit titles until 19 March 2025 / Call for submissions at www.deutscher-buchpreis.de/anmeldung
Erstellt am 04.02.2025
The jury for the German Book Prize 2025 has been chosen. The Akademie Deutscher Buchpreis (German Book Prize Academy) has appointed the following seven literature experts to the jury:
- Laura de Weck (Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen)
- Maria Carolina Foi (University of Trieste)
- Jürgen Kaube (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
- Friedhelm Marx (University of Bamberg)
- Kathrin Matern (“Frau Rilke” bookshop, Neustrelitz)
- Lara Sielmann (Deutschlandfunk Kultur)
- Shirin Sojitrawalla (independent critic)
The members of the jury decide who will receive the German Book Prize 2025. To ensure the highest possible level of independence for the award, the Akademie Deutscher Buchpreis selects a new jury each year. It is possible to serve as a jury member more than once.
Publishers may submit titles
Starting now, publishers can submit titles for the German Book Prize 2025 at www.deutscher-buchpreis.de/anmeldung. Until 19 March 2025, they may each submit two German-language novels – and recommend up to five additional titles – from their current or forthcoming lists. To participate, applicants must be members of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers and Booksellers Association), or its Swiss or Austrian equivalents: the Schweizer Buchhandel- und Verlags-Verband and the Hauptverband des Österreichischen Buchhandels. The books must be published between 1 October 2024 and 16 September 2025, when the shortlist will be announced. Books, reading copies, e-books or galley proofs may be submitted until 13 June 2025.
The novel of the year is selected through a multi-stage process. First, the jury reviews all the novels submitted by publishers and compiles a longlist of 20 titles, which will be announced on 19 August 2025. From this list, the jury members select six titles for the shortlist, which will be released on 16 September 2025. These six authors will only find out who among them has won the German Book Prize on the evening of the award ceremony itself.
The prize will be awarded in the Kaisersaal of the Frankfurt Römer on 13 October 2025, to coincide with the start of the Frankfurter Buchmesse. The winner will receive 25,000 euros in prize money; the five finalists 2,500 euros each. Martina Hefter won the German Book Prize 2024 for her novel “Hey guten Morgen, wie geht es dir?”
The German Book Prize is awarded by the Stiftung Buchkultur und Leseförderung des Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (Foundation for Book Culture and the Promotion of Reading of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association). The main sponsor of the prize is the Deutsche Bank Stiftung (Deutsche Bank Foundation), and Frankfurter Buchmesse and the city of Frankfurt am Main are also partners.
Additional information and all application materials are available at www.deutscher-buchpreis.de.
The hashtag for the German Book Prize 2025 is #dbp25.