Kurd Laßwitz Award


The Kurd Laßwitz Award is a science fiction award from Germany. The award is named after the science fiction author Kurd Laßwitz. Only works originally published in German are eligible for nomination in all categories except for the Foreign Work category.
Wolfgang Jeschke has won the award 19 times in four different categories, while Andreas Eschbach has won the prize 11 times in two different categories. The foreign-language category includes novels, stories, collections and non-fiction. Iain Banks and China Miéville won the foreign-language prize four times. Other authors to win multiple times are Hans Joachim Alpers, Carl Amery, Herbert W. Franke, Ian McDonald, Michael Marrak, and Connie Willis.

Award winners

German-language novel

This category includes German-language works with a length of at least 100 pages by German-language authors which were published in German on a German-language market professionally for the first time in the award year.

Foreign work

This category includes foreign-language fiction and non-fiction which was published as a German translation for the first time in the award year. Until 1997, it was called Foreign Novel.

German-language short fiction (since 1997)

This category includes German-language works with a length of less than 100 pages by German-language authors which were published in German on a German-language market professionally for the first time in the award year, i.e. it includes short stories and novelettes/novellas combined in one award category. From 1997–2007 it was called German-language Short Story. From 1981–1996 this category was split into two separate award categories for Novellette/Novella and Short Story.

Radio drama

Although a prize has been awarded for a best work of radio drama since 1987, it is only since 1993 that a winner has been selected by a jury
  • 1993: Eva Maria Mudrich, Sommernachtstraum
  • 1994: not awarded
  • 1995: not awarded
  • 1996: Wolfgang Rindfleisch, Uhrwerk Orange. Director: Wolfgang Rindfleisch. Music: Trötsch
  • 1997: Friedrich Bestenreiner, 'Paradise Hospital Inc.'. Director: Thomas Werner
  • 1998: Karlheinz Knuth, Die Tage nebenan – or: Da, wo Cäsar nicht ermordet wurde. Director: Thomas Werner
  • 1999: Heiko Michael Hartmann, MOI. Director: Oliver Sturm
  • 2000: Marina Dietz, Träumen Androiden. Director: Marina Dietz
  • 2001: not awarded
  • 2002: Walter Adler, Tokio liebt uns nicht mehr. Director: Walter Adler
  • 2003: not awarded
  • 2004: not awarded
  • 2005: Norbert Schaeffer, Das letzte Geheimnis. Director: Norbert Schaeffer
  • 2006: Matthias Wittekindt, Das Lewskow-Manuscript. Director: Alexander Schuhmacher. Music: Tim Frühwirth, Lömsch Le Mans, Frank Wingold
  • 2007: Matthias Scheliga, Amnesia. Director: Jürgen Dluzniewski
  • 2008: nicht vergeben
  • 2009: Bodo Traber & Tilman Zens, Die Flüsterer, Director: Petra Feldhoff
  • 2010: not awarded
  • 2011: not awarded
  • 2012: Till Müller-Klug, Sprachlabor Babylon, Director: Thomas Wolfertz, Musik: Ekkehard Ehlers
  • 2013: Heinz von Cramer, Unerwartete Ereignisse, Director: Burkhard Schmid
  • 2014: not awarded
  • 2015: Walter Adler, Foxfinder, Director: Walter Adler
  • 2016: Georg Heinzen, Sale, Director: Martin Zylka
  • 2017: not awarded
  • 2018: Bodo Traber, Paradise Revisited, Director: Bodo Traber
  • 2019: Anne Krüger, Supermarkt, Director: Andrea Getto
  • 2020: Gerrit Booms, Unser Leben in den Wäldern
  • 2021: Heinz Sommer, Der zweite Schlaf
  • 2022: Christian Wittmann and Georg Zeitblom, r_crusoe™
  • 2023: : Die Nacht war bleich, die Lichter blinkten, Director: Lorenz Schuster
  • 2024: no award

Other categories