News | Gruner + Jahr | Hamburg, 05/04/2020

Gruner + Jahr and ‘Stern’ Present ‘Nannen Prize 2020’

Gruner + Jahr and its magazine “Stern” have announced the winners of the Nannen Prize 2020. The online awards ceremony was broadcast on a “Stern” website and on YouTube. The Nannen Prize is regarded as the foremost award for journalists in Germany. A special prize went to Rami Abdurrahman.

Last Thursday, the German publishing house Gruner + Jahr and its magazine “Stern” announced the winners of this year’s “Nannen Prize.” Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the prize couldn’t be presented at a gala event and in front of an audience as usual, so the founders hosted a virtual awards ceremony. One positive side effect was that, for the first time, everyone interested was able to be present live and online during primetime, when presenter Michel Abdollahi and “Stern” editor-in-chief Florian Gless announced this year’s winners in seven categories. The online awards ceremony was broadcast on a special “Stern” website and on YouTube.

The Nannen Prize is regarded as the foremost accolade for journalists in Germany. It has been awarded for outstanding journalistic achievements in words and pictures since 2005. The Nannen Prize seeks to strengthen quality journalism in the German-speaking world, and to highlight the importance of high-quality print and online journalism to society. Read on for the list of journalists who been recognized with the Nannen Prize 2020 for their outstanding achievements in the following seven categories:

  • Report (Egon Erwin Kisch Prize): Dominik Stawski, “Wenn das Herz versagt und es nur eine Rettung gibt” (When the heart fails and there is only one way to save [the patient]”), Stern
  • Documentary: Amrai Coen, Malte Henk, “Wenn sie euch nicht in den Jemen lassen, berichtet trotzdem” (If they won’t let you into Yemen, report anyway), Die Zeit
  • Investigative Achievement: Maik Baumgärtner, Vera Deleja-Hotko, Martin Knobbe, Walter Mayr, Alexandra Rojkov, Wolf Wiedmann-Schmidt; Leila Al-Serori, Oliver Das Gupta, Peter Münch, Frederik Obermaier, Bastian Obermayer, “Ibiza-Affäre” (Ibiza Affair), Der Spiegel / Süddeutsche Zeitung
  • Local Investigative Achievement: Christoph Heinemann, “Soko ‘Cold Cases’ – Chronik eines Versagens” (Task Force ‘Cold Cases’ – Chronicle of a Failure), Hamburger Abendblatt
  • Web Project: Rezo, “Die Zerstörung der CDU”( The Destruction of the CDU [political party]), Rezo ja lol ey on Youtube
  • Photography Report: Dina Litovsky, “Ein wenig locker machen” (Loosening Up), Stern
  • Staged Photography: Marteline Nystad, “Die Körperrevolution,” Brigitte

Special Prize for Rami Abdurrahman

Beyond the awards in the regular competition categories, Stern’s senior editorial team awarded a special prize to Rami Abdurrahman paying tribute to Abdurrahman’s outstanding achievement in meticulously documenting human rights violations in Syria. For years, he has been compiling a chronicle of the horrors of the war with the help of a network of informants in Syria. He publishes their research on the website of the “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” (SOHR), at www.syriahr.com .

Independence in the awarding of the Nannen Prize is guaranteed by an elaborate selection process and renowned panels of judges comprised of journalists, authors, editors-in-chief and photographers from almost all of Germany’s major publishing houses.