The Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig awards the "Günter Eich Prize" 2013 to radio play author Jürgen Becker. "Jürgen Becker is one of the most renowned German radio play authors. If the Günter Eich Prize would be awarded annually and not in a two-year alternation with the Axel Eggebrecht Prize - Jürgen Becker would already be a laureate.", said Stephan Seeger, Director of the Foundation.
The Cologne-based writer Jürgen Becker (born 1932) is one of the most influential literary voices of German radio play who has significantly influenced the radio art with his numerous radio works which arose from 1969 until present. If Günter Eich is known for a specific "Eich sound", then you could also speak of a "Becker sound". By listening to the places and landscapes in which he lived, he became a historiographer of proximity. Thanks to Becker’s accuracy and his own "language music" the seemingly long familiar everyday life becomes a radiophonic echo chamber in which collective history can be experienced in a new and concrete manner. Not least, the reunion with his East German places of childhood changed him into a poetic chronicler of German Reunification during the last two decades. The jury had to deal with a strong field of competitors. Several broadcasters and associations had proposed 18 candidates.