Winners Of The Nannen Prize Receive Their Awards
Six outstanding works of journalism were honored with the renowned Nannen Prize in Hamburg yesterday evening. The winner in the historic “Best Reportage” category – and therefore winner of the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize – was Jan Christoph Wiechmann for his article “Drei Krieger” (“Three Warriors”) in G+J’s "Stern" magazine. In his article, the "Stern" author writes about three men from three different continents whose life paths cross in 2010 when a Bundeswehr (German Army) unit was ambushed by the Taliban near the village of Isa Khel in Afghanistan.
At an award-giving ceremony at Hamburg’s Curio-Haus attended by around 550 illustrious guests from the media, culture, politics and business attended the award-giving ceremony at Hamburg’s Curio-Haus At an award-giving ceremony at Hamburg’s Curio-Haus attended by around 550 illustrious guests from the media, culture, politics and business, the judges honored the winners in the six competition categories. "Stern” also presented a special prize for outstanding journalistic achievement. The event was emceed by “Tagesschau” (German evening news) anchorwoman Caren Miosga.
Winner in the historic “Best Reportage” category Jan Christoph Wiechmann - Please click here for more pictures of the winners
In the “Investigative” category, the judges honored the “Spiegel” team Jürgen Dahlenkamp, Rafael Buschmann, Gunther Latsch, Udo Ludwig, Jörg Schmitt and Jens Weinreich for their article “Sommer, Sonne, Schwarzgeld" (“Summer, Sun, and Money under the Table”), in which the journalists uncovered irregularities in the German organizing committee for the 2006 World Cup.
Pictures simulating reality
The Nannen Prize for “Photo Reportage” went to Arne Svenson for „Die Welt ist mir zu viel” (“The world is too much for me”), which was published in “Zeit Magazin.” Svenson, who lives in New York, photographed his neighbors from his studio apartment for his photo series "The Neighbours."
Winner of the Nannen Prize for "Staged photography”: Adrian Sonderegger with Margot Klingsporn and Caren Miosga Jojakim Cortis and Adrian Sonderegger won the Nannen Prize for "Staged photography” for “Trauen Sie Ihren Augen nicht!” (“Don’t believe your eyes!”), published in G+J’s “Geo” magazine. The artists recreated icons of photography in the studio to show how easily pictures can simulate an apparent reality.
In the “Documentary” category, Wolfgang Bauer prevailed with his article “Ich bin jetzt eine andere. Das spüre ich. Jemand, den ich nicht kenne” ("I’m someone else now. I sense it. Someone I don’t know”). In "Zeit Magazin," the "Zeit" reporter tells the story of women from Nigeria who were able to escape from the camps of the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram.
The Nannen Prize 2016 for Best Web Reporting went to Theresa Rentsch, Julius Tröger, André Paetzold, Moritz Klack, David Wendler and Max Boenke for “M29 – Berlins Buslinie der großen Unterschiede” (M29 – Berlin’s Bus Route of Big Differences). The “Berliner Morgenpost” newspaper’s Interactive team takes readers on a journey of discovery through Germany’s capital, stop by stop, from socially deprived areas to wealthy residential areas and up-and-coming neighborhoods.
‘A showcase for outstanding performance in our industry’
In addition to the prizes in the six competition categories, "Stern" awarded a special prize to Hosam Katan honoring the Syrian photographer for his exceptional journalistic work in the war zone in and around Aleppo. The award was presented by "Stern" Editor-in-Chief Christian Krug. Katan stands as a representative for many Syrian media activists who deliver pictures and information from areas that have become virtually inaccessible to foreign journalists, at great danger to their own lives, said the judges in their explanatory statement. Without the dedication of such local photographers and journalists, reporting would hardly be possible anymore from Syria.
“We see the Nannen Prize as a showcase for outstanding performance in our industry,” said Krug. “Some of this year’s nominees researched their work for years. They investigated complicated issues, often in large teams, and were given the necessary work by their newsrooms to write their stories in ways that are worthy of an award. These kinds of working conditions have become the exception, and we can only hope that such exceptions will continue to exist for a long time. We congratulate the winners and thank all the participants who make the Nannen Prize such a special event.”
The Nannen Prize pays tribute to outstanding work in German-language print, digital and photo journalism. It is regarded as one of Germany’s most prestigious awards for journalists and is named after the publisher and journalist Henri Nannen (1913-1996), who was Editor-in-Chief of “Stern” from 1949 to 1980, and the magazine’s publisher until 1983. Under Nannen’s leadership, “Stern” became Europe’s most-read magazine. In 1977, Henri Nannen first sponsored the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize, which his magazine presented annually for the best reportage in the German-language press for nearly 30 years. In 2005, the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize became the Henri Nannen Prize, which was presented annually until 2014. In 2015, Gruner + Jahr stopped awarding the prize, only to reintroduce it in 2016 as the “Nannen Prize.”
In all, 982 texts and photo spreads were submitted this year for the Nannen Prize 2016. The preliminary judges chose 32 texts and web reports and forwarded their shortlist to the main jury, which this year consisted of: Klaus Brinkbäumer ( "Der Spiegel"), Ulrike Demmer (Redaktions Netzwerk Deutschland), Tina Hassel (ARD), Marion Horn ("Bild am Sonntag"), Christian Stein ("Stern"), Christoph Kucklick ("Geo"), Giovanni di Lorenzo ( "Zeit"), Mathias Müller von Blumencron ( "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung"), Annette Ramelsberger (“Süddeutsche Zeitung”), Ulrich Reitz ("Focus"), Christoph Schwennicke ("Cicero"), and Andreas Wolfers (Henri Nannen School). The host of this year's ceremony was G+J’s "Stern” magazine.
