Merano Poetry Prize

The Merano Poetry Prize (German: Lyrikpreis Meran) is an international literary prize for German-language poetry that was founded by Alfred Gruber (1929–1998), a South Tyrolian catholic priest and writer.^[1] The biennial competition was established in 1993^[2] and is awarded by the South Tyrolean provincial government in the city of Merano ever since. In addition to the main award (1. Preis), which is endowed with €8,000, usually two further prizes are awarded, the Alfred Gruber Prize (Alfred-Gruber-Preis, endowed with €3,500) and the Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster South Tyrol (Medienpreis der RAI Südtirol, endowed with €2,500).^[3][4]

The Merano Poetry Prize is considered highly prestigious.^[5][6] The Austrian national public broadcaster ORF called it "one of the most important literary competitions in the German-speaking world ([einer] der wichtigsten Literaturwettbewerbe seiner Gattung im deutschen Sprachraum)".^[7]

Winners

• 1993 Kurt Drawert [de]
• 1994 Kathrin Schmidt
• 1996 Sepp Mall
• 1998 Jürgen Nendza
• 2000 Lutz Seiler
• 2002 Oswald Egger [de] and Sylvia Geist
• 2004
  • 1. Prize: Michael Donhauser
  • Alfred Gruber Prize: Jan Wagner
  • Advancement award: Silke Scheuermann
• 2006
  • 1. Prize: Ulrike Almut Sandig
  • Alfred Gruber Prize: Ulf Stolterfoht
  • Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster Bolzano: Andreas Neeser
• 2008
  • 1. Prize: Martina Hefter [de]
  • Alfred Gruber Prize: Monika Rinck
  • Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster Bolzano: Uljana Wolf
  • Preis der Jury: Nikola Richter
• 2010
  • 1. Prize: Andre Rudolph [de]^[8]
  • Alfred Gruber Prize: Sünje Lewejohann
  • Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster Bolzano: Carsten Zimmermann
  • Preis der Jury: Christian Rosenau
• 2012
  • 1. Prize: Uwe Kolbe
  • Alfred-Gruber-Preis: Christoph Wenzel
  • Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster Bolzano: Katrin Fellner
• 2014
  • 1. Preis: Thomas Kunst [de]
  • Alfred Gruber Prize: Tom Schulz
  • Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster South Tyrol: Jan Volker Röhnert
• 2016
  • 1. Prize: Konstantin Ames
  • Alfred Gruber Prize: Markus R. Weber
  • Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster South Tyrol: Mikael Vogel
• 2018
  • 1. Prize: Kerstin Preiwuß
  • Alfred Gruber Prize: Martin Piekar
  • Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster South Tyrol: Eberhard Häfner
• 2021
  • 1. Prize: Dagmara Kraus [de]
  • Alfred Gruber Prize: Mara-Daria Cojocaru
  • 3. Preis: Marcus Neuert
• 2022
  • 1. Prize: Guy Helminger
  • Alfred Gruber Prize: Paul-Henri Campbell
  • Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster South Tyrol: Alexandra Bernhardt [de]

• 2024^[9]
  • 1. Prize: Tamara Štajner
  • Alfred Gruber Prize: Esther Dischereit [de]
  • Media Prize of the RAI broadcaster South Tyrol: Sebastian Schmidt