The award is closely linked to VG Bild-Kunst and Deutscher Künstlerbund: In 1950, HAP Grieshaber was one of the founding members of Deutscher Künstlerbund and a member on its Executive Board for over a decade. Since the 1970s, he has been an extraordinary advocate for the copyright law of fine art artists. HAP Grieshaber played a key role in establishing VG Bild-Kunst and was a member of its Administrative Council
Until 2025, Stiftung Kunstfonds, to whom we extend our warmest thanks for their collaboration to date, carried out the selection. The HAP Grieshaber award will now be awarded following a new concept.
Until 2025, the selection was carried out by Stiftung Kunstfonds, to whom we extend our warmest thanks for their collaboration to date. The HAP Grieshaber award will now be awarded following a new concept.
The HAP Grieshaber Prize honors exceptional artistic achievement characterized by a clear and independent perspective—entirely in the tradition of its namesake, HAP Grieshaber, who advocated the freedom of art throughout his life.
The award is deliberately aimed at full-time freelance artists who have no affiliation to any institution. Candidates come from all German federal states, to highlight artistic practices beyond the established mainstream.
In addition to the financial award, the winner will be granted an exhibition in the project venue of Deutscher Künstlerbund in Berlin, as well as a public placement programme. The award is initially valid for a period of five years (2026 to 2030).
The winner is expected to be announced at the end of November 2026. The exhibition in the project venue of Deutscher Künstlerbund, featuring the award ceremony, will open in spring 2027.
Two-stage jury process
The winner is selected through a two-stage, independent process to ensure the transparency of the jury’s work.
Nomination Jury
– Nomination Jury Pool
Committee members from Professional Group I (visual arts) of the Kulturwerk Foundation of VG Bild-Kunst and affiliated professional associations form a pool of approximately 120 people. The artists in this pool are not affiliated with any associations or committees and come from all 16 federal states.
– Nomination Jury
Sixteen people are selected at random from the pool of nomination jury members, based on the federal states.
Each panel member nominates a maximum of two artists for the HAP-Grieshaber Prize, resulting in a maximum of 32 candidates. All must be members of Professional Group I of VG Bild-Kunst.
II. Selection Jury
– Selection Jury Pool
The Selection jury Pool consists of approximately 90 people and is drawn together by the committee members of Professional Group I. The five members of the Selection jury are selected at random from this pool.
– Selection Jury
The five-member selection jury, which does not include any academic staff, comprises freelance artists who do not themselves hold any position on the committees of VG Bild-Kunst. Members of the respective executive boards or committees are excluded.
The selection jury reviews the applications and selects the award winner.
Individuals may be drawn by lot to serve on the nomination jury on multiple occasions, but may only be a member of the selection jury once. In both random selection processes, every effort is made to ensure as balanced a gender distribution as possible.
Invited Nomination Jury 2026
- Nevin Aladag
- Thomas Bratzke
- Anne Duc Hee Jordan
- Susanne Gabler
- Stella Geppert
- Angela Glajcar
- Martin Hesselmeier
- Sofia Hultén
- Martina Klein
- Betina Kuntzsch
- Kuo-Wei Lin
- Axel Loytved
- Corinna Schnitt
- Hito Steyerl
- Georg Winter
- Sofi Zezmer
Five-member Selection Jury for 2026
- Fritz Balthaus
- Alexandra Deutsch
- Thomas Eller
- Saeed Foroghi
- Ngozi Ajah Schommers (HAP Grieshaber award winner 2024)
Die VG Bild-Kunst Kunst is headquartered in Bonn and has a representative office in Berlin. It is the only German collecting society to represent the copyright interests of more than 70,000 image authors from Germany and a further 260,000 authors from sister societies around the world. It ensures that creative professionals in the creation class of fine art, photography, illustration, design, and film receive appropriate remuneration for the use of their works. More than 17,000 fine art artists alone have entrusted the organisation with the defence of their reproduction rights. In addition to collective rights management, VG Bild-Kunst continuously supports cultural projects through its foundation Stiftung Kulturwerk. .
Deutscher Künstlerbund e.V., based in Berlin, is one of the oldest national associations of fine art artists in the German-speaking world. Since 1903, the association has been actively campaigning for artistic freedom and improved conditions for artists. In addition to political advocacy, the association organises exhibitions and plays a key role in high-profile art awards.
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