Cultural Department of the City of Munich Department 1 / Literature

Description

In 2023, the City of Munich awarded ten scholarships for authors and translators totalling 8,000 euros each. In addition, the Leonhard and Ida Wolf Memorial Prize for Literature is awarded with 3,000 euros.

The literary scholarships and the Leonhard and Ida Wolf Memorial Prize for Literature are intended to support promising projects by predominantly younger Munich authors; there is no age limit for the literary scholarships, but only authors under the age of 30 are eligible for the Leonhard and Ida Wolf Memorial Prize. Two scholarships for translators recognise outstanding achievements in the translation of particularly challenging texts into German.

One scholarship is awarded in each of the fields of children's and young adult literature. Illustrated projects can also be submitted; the prize money is split between the author and the illustrator.
One of the two artists must be resident in Munich.

Another scholarship honours a project in the field of illustration/graphic novel.

Winners of the Leonhard and Ida Wolf Memorial Prize are excluded from applying for a scholarship or the Wolf Prize for the following call for applications; literature scholarship holders are excluded for two subsequent calls for applications.
Each applicant may only submit one project. It is not possible to apply for the City of Munich's literary scholarship and the City of Munich's working scholarship for Munich authors at the same time.

Prerequisites

• The authors or translators live in Munich (S-Bahn area) - in the case of illustrated projects in the children's/young adult book sector, at least half of the artists involved.
• The submitted texts must be unpublished (until the end of the competition year).
• Only texts in German can be submitted

Required documents

The following documents must be submitted in 7 copies, i.e. seven complete and separate "sets" (each stapled or in transparent sleeves!) for the jurors :

• biographical details and any previous publications
• a short description of the project (synopsis), maximum 1 page

• Work samples from the project
  - maximum 30 pages for prose
• (standard manuscript pages, approx. 1,800 characters)
  - for poetry a maximum of 20 poems
  - for children's and youth literature a maximum of 15 pages
  - for dialogue forms (plays, audio plays, etc.) the draft/preliminary draft of the play (approx. 20 pages)
  - for translation projects: German translation and original text depending on genre in appropriate length (prose 15 pages, poetry 10 pages)

Legal basis

By submitting an application, the applicant agrees to the terms and conditions of the call for applications and confirms that he/she lives in Munich (S-Bahn area). Applications that do not comply with the conditions of the call for applications cannot be considered.

The Cultural Department accepts no liability for the documents submitted. The application documents cannot be returned.

Processing time

All formally correct and complete applications will be submitted to the jury appointed by the City Council. It makes a pre-selection based on artistic quality criteria and recommends the selected applicants to the City Council. The final decision is made by the City Council in the Cultural Committee in the summer. The selected applicants will be notified at the beginning of autumn.