Jury

Head of Jury

Born in Halle/Saale in 1955, lives in Leipzig. After studying German at the Berlin Humboldt University, lecturer at the Philipp Reclam jun. Leipzig publishing house and dramaturge at Deutsches Theater Berlin. From 1991 to 2020 radio playwright for Sachsenradio and Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. Since 1988 author of numerous radio plays and radio play arrangements, most recently "Die Gottesanbeterin" ("The Mantis"), DLR 2018, and "Toter Winkel" ("Blind Spot"), NDR 2019. He also published the novels "Blick und Beute" (" Look and prey"), 2010, "Selbstportrait mit Gunwaffe" ("Self-portrait with a gun"), 2012, and "Kinder des Labyrinths" ("Children of the labyrinth"), 2018.

Diemut Roether (born in 1964) studied journalism, German language and literature, politics and history and information science in Dortmund and Madrid. From 1993 to 2000 she was an editor at ARD-aktuell TV news magazine. Since October 2002 she has been a specialist editor for media topics at epd medien news agency. Since July 2009 she has been in charge of the publication as editor-in-chief. In 2011 she was awarded the "Bert Donnepp Prize" for media journalism. Since 2009 she has been a regular member of the jury for the "Radio Play Prize of the War Blind".

Wolfgang Schiffer, born in 1946, studied German literature, philosophy, and theater studies; he has published prose, poetry, and radio plays and works as an editor and translator from Icelandic; he is a member of various literary institutions, including PEN Germany. From 1976 he worked as a radio drama editor at WDR (West German Broadcasting), and from 1991 to 2011 he held a leading position responsible for radio plays, radio features, and literature; from 1995 to 2003 he was also a member of the Steering Committee for Radio Drama of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). For his publications (most recently the poetry collection Ich hört dem Regen zu [I Listened to the Rain] (ELIF Verlag 2024), the anthology Die Backstage eines Buches [The Backstage of a Book], ELIF Verlag 2025, as well as the translations Die Sprache der Möwen [The Language of Seagulls] by Gyrðir Elíasson (ELIF Verlag 2025) and Die Bibliothek meines Vaters [My Father's Library] by Ragnar Helgi Ólafsson (Mikrotext 2025)), he has received several literary and cultural awards, including the Knight's Cross of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon. He lives in Cologne and Prague.