The Kurd Laßwitz Preis 2024 winners have been announced. The award, named after German author Kurd Laßwitz, is given to works written in or translated into the German language and published during the previous year.

The award ceremony will take place as part of ElsterCon, a multimedia event on science fiction, fantasy, and horror that will be held September 27-29 at Haus des Buches in Leipzig.

BEST GERMAN SF-NOVEL FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2023

Award winner	Points
Aiki Mira, Neurobiest   Eridanus	129

Nominees		Points
2	Sven Haupt, Niemandes Schlaf   Eridanus	114
3	Lena Richter, Dies ist mein letztes Lied   OhneOhren	97
4	Jacqueline Montemurri, Skábma – Das Nanobot-Experiment   Edition Roter Drache	92
5	Michael Marcus Thurner, Die Terrania-Trilogie (Perry Rhodan, vol. 3208-3210)   VPM	86
6	Brandon Q. Morris, Tachyon – Die Waffe (Tachyon, Band 1)   Fischer Tor	81
7	Christian Kellermann, Adam und Ada   Hirnkost	76
8	Reda El Arbi, [empfindungsfæhig]   Lector Books	61
9	No award – I consider none of the nominations in this category to be worthy of an award	6

BEST GERMAN SF-STORY FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2023

Award winner	Points
Uwe Hermann, Die End-of-Life-Schaltung in: René Moreau, Hans Jürgen Kugler and Heinz Wipperfürth (ed.): Exodus 46   Exodus Selbstverlag	128

Nominees		Points
2	Christian Endres, Die Straße der Bienen in: Fritz Heidorn and Sylvia Mlynek (ed.): Klimazukünfte 2050 – Geschichten unserer gefährdeten Welt   Hirnkost	123
3	Michael Schneiberg, Die Frau in der Wand in: René Moreau, Hans Jürgen Kugler and Heinz Wipperfürth (ed.): Exodus 47    Exodus Selbstverlag	111
4	Aiki Mira, Nicht von dieser Welt in: Team Nova (ed.): Nova 32   p.machinery	107
5	Dieter Korger, Nur ein Werbespot in: Hans Jürgen Kugler and René Moreau (ed.): Ferne Horizonte – Entfernte Verwandte   Hirnkost	86
6	Michael Marrak, Der Mann, der Räume glücklich machte (Stellaris, Folge 94) in: Robert Corvus, Cyberflora (Perry Rhodan, vol. 3234)   VPM	84
7	Yvonne Tunnat, Der Spielplatz in: Marianne Labisch and Gerd Scherm (ed.): Jenseits der Traumgrenze   p.machinery	74
8	Melanie Vogltanz, No Filter in: Judith C. Vogt, Lena Richter and Heike Knopp-Sullivan (ed.): Queer*Welten 10   Ach je	61
9	Yvonne Tunnat, Trauergeschäfte in: René Moreau, Hans Jürgen Kugler and Heinz Wipperfürth (ed.): Exodus 47   Exodus Selbstverlag	50
10	Wolf Welling, Stulpa in: René Moreau, Hans Jürgen Kugler and Heinz Wipperfürth (ed.): Exodus 47    Exodus Selbstverlag	39
11	Charline Winter, Grüne Herzen in: Judith C. Vogt, Lena Richter and Heike Knopp-Sullivan (ed.): Queer*Welten 11   Ach je	37
12	No award – I consider none of the nominations in this category to be worthy of an award	5

BEST NON-GERMAN SF WORK TRANSLATED FIRST TIME IN 2023

Award winner	Points
Ursula K. Le Guin, Immer nach Hause (Always Coming Home)   Carcosa	165

Nominees		Points
2	Rebecca F. Kuang, Babel (Babel. Or the Necessity of Violence)   Eichborn	70
3	Emily St. John Mandel, Das Meer der endlosen Ruhe (Sea of Tranquility)   Ullstein	68
4	Neal Stephenson, Termination Shock (Termination Shock)   Goldmann	56
5	Ned Beauman, Der gemeine Lumpfisch (Venomous Lumpsucker)   Liebeskind	46
6	Neil Sharpson, Ecce Machina – Die Seele der Maschine (When the Sparrow Falls)   Piper	33
7	Guy Hasson, Das perfekte Mädchen (The Perfect Girl)   in: Sheldon Teitelbaum and Emanuel Lottem (ed.): Zion’s Fiction   Hirnkost	31
8	Cheon Seon-Ran, Tausend Arten von Blau (천 개의 파랑)   Golkonda	30
9	Peter Cawdron, Der Sturm (The Tempest) (Erstkontakt, vol. 2)   A7L Books	25
10	Polly Ho-Yen, The Mothers (Dark Lullaby)   Piper	22
11	Lucy Kissick, Projekt Pluto (Plutoshine)   Heyne	21
12	No award – I consider none of the nominations in this category to be worthy of an award	3

BEST TRANSLATION OF SF INTO GERMAN, FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2023

Award winner	Points
Matthias Fersterer, Karen Nölle and Helmut W. Pesch for the translation of Ursula K. Le Guin, Immer nach Hause (Always Coming Home)   Carcosa	77

Nominees		Points
2	Hannes Riffel for the re-translation of Gene Wolfe, Der fünfte Kopf des Zerberus (The Fifth Head of Cerberus)   Carcosa	70
3	Jakob Schmidt for the re-translation of Samuel R. Delany, Babel-17 (Babel-17)   Carcosa	66
4	Jakob Schmidt for the re-translation of Roger Zelazny, Straße nach überallhin (Roadmarks)   Piper	55
5	Jan Henrik Dirks for the translation of Cheon Seon-Ran, Tausend Arten von Blau (천 개의 파랑)   Golkonda	53
	Jennifer Michalski for the translation of Donna Barba Higuera, Die letzte Erzählerin (The Last Cuentista)   Dragonfly
7	Sharyn Wegmann for the translation of Peter Cawdron, Der Sturm (The Tempest) (Erstkontakt, Band 2)   A7L Books	39
8	No award – I consider none of the nominations in this category to be worthy of an award	0

BEST SF ART (COVER, ILLUSTRATION) RELATED TO A GERMAN EDITION IN 2023

Award winner	Points
Thomas Thiemeyer for the cover art of Hans Jürgen Kugler and René Moreau (ed.), Ferne Horizonte – Entfernte Verwandte   Hirnkost	213

Nominees		Points
2	Detlef Klewer for the cover art ofChristoph Grimm (ed.), Weltenportal 5   Weltenportal Selbstverlag	193
3	Arndt Drechsler-Zakrzewski for the cover art ofTorsten Scheib and Marc Hamacher (ed.), New Dodge   Leseratten	153
4	Horst Rellecke for the cover art ofRené Moreau, Hans Jürgen Kugler and Heinz Wipperfürth (ed.): exodus 46   Exodus Selbstverlag	128
5	Olaf Kemmler for the cover art ofKlaus Bollhöfener (ed.): phantastisch! 92   Atlantis	116
6	Dirk Schulz for the cover art ofOliver Fröhlich and Christian Montillon, Facetten aus Eis (Perry Rhodan, vol. 3241)   VPM	100
7	Ingo Lohse for the cover art ofRené Moreau, Hans Jürgen Kugler and Heinz Wipperfürth (Ed.): exodus 47   Exodus Selbstverlag	68
8	No award – I consider none of the nominations in this category to be worthy of an award	15

BEST GERMAN SF RADIO PLAY FIRST BROADCASTED IN 2023

Out of four nominations for three radio plays, two were selected and presented to the radio play jury (seven radio play authors, directors and radio play experts).

Award winner	Points
No award – I consider none of the nominations in this category to be worthy of an award	45

Nominees		Points
2	Slughunters – Jagd auf die Jäger by Bodo Traber Director: Bodo Traber; Composer: André Abshagen; Production: WDR	21
3	Der Ernstfall by Paula Dorten and Kerstin Schütze Director: Kerstin Schütze; Composer: The Z & Noir Desir; Production: ORF	9

BEST GERMAN FACTUAL TEXT RELATED TO SF, FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2023

Award winner	Points
Hans Frey, Vision und Verfall – Deutsche Science Fiction in der DDR   Memoranda	193

Nominees		Points
2	Alfred Vejchar, Von Andromeda bis Utopia – Eine Zeitreise durchs österreichische Fandom   p.machinery	107
3	Gunther Barnewald, Handbuch der Planeten – Reiseführer durch die Welten von Jack Vance   FanPro	87
4	Olaf Kemmler, Big Data is watching you! Werden wir durch unsere Smartphones belauscht?   Tor Online	61
5	Felix Wirth, Science Fiction im Radio – Programm und Sound utopischer Hörspiele in der Deutschschweiz von 1935 – 1985   transcript	49
6	No award – I consider none of the nominations in this category to be worthy of an award	9

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR CURRENT SF ACTIVITIES IN 2023

Award winner	Points
Fritz Heidorn, the Klimahaus Bremerhaven, the Deutsche Klimastiftung and Hirnkost Publishing for the Climate Futures 2050 literary competition and the publication of the anthology	147

Nominees		Points
2	Hannes Riffel for the founding and first program of Carcosa, in particular the publication of Ursula K. Le Guin’s work Always Coming Home	138
3	The team around Claudia Rapp for the organization of MetropolCon 2023	130
4	Robert Corvus for the organization of the German participation in the European Science Fiction Award	126
5	Olaf Brill and Michael Vogt for the comic Der kleine Perry, which introduces children to SF	109
6	Rainer Schorm and Jörg Weigand for the publication of the anthology Die Zukunft im Blick. Rainer Erler zum 90. Geburtstag	91
7	Yvonne Tunnat for her literature podcast Literatunnat	88
8	Marianne Labisch, Uli Bendick, Mario Franke and Torsten Low for the publication of Science Fiction Art & Kalendergeschichten	70
9	Gregor Sedlag for the artistic organization of the SF-Sketch exhibition In Linearträumen located in Industriesalon in Berlin-Schöneweide	42
10	No award – I consider none of the nominations in this category to be worthy of an award	10

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2023 FOR LONG TERM SF ACTIVITIES

Award winner	Points
René Moreau, Olaf Kemmler, Heinz Wipperfürth and Hans Jürgen Kugler for 20 years of Exodus (since relaunch)	258

Nominees		Points
2	Arndt Drechsler-Zakrzewski for his life’s work (posthumously)	217
3	Jörg Weigand for decades of commitment in the field of SF, fantasy and entertainment literature as an editor and non-fiction author	186
4	No award – I consider none of the nominations in this category to be worthy of an award	5

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD CRITICAL, COMMITTED, INTERSECTIONAL 2023

Award winner	Points
The team of publisher Hirnkost for the publication of the first German anthology of Israeli SF, Zion’s Fiction	175

Nominees		Points
2	Klaus Farin, Hans Frey, Christian Kellermann, Hardy Kettlitz and Karlheinz Steinmüller for the project Kongress der Utopien	154
3	Lena Richter, Judith C. Vogt, Heike Knopp-Sullivan and Kathrin Dodenhoeft for the publication of the magazine Queer*Welten	111
4	Aşkın-Hayat Doğan for his video series Diverser Lesen mit Ask	59
5	No award – I consider none of the nominations in this category to be worthy of an award	31

Note:     The Kurd Laßwitz Award names only the first place winner per category as the award winner, no second or third prizes are awarded. The numbering only reflects the order based on the voting points.