Type of award

Annually conferred personal award

Purpose of funding

The Communicator Award recognises outstanding achievements in science communication. It goes to individual researchers and teams for making their findings and working methods accessible to a wider audience in creative, diverse and effective ways, thereby strengthening dialogue and trust between the research community and society at large.

Number and value of awards

The Donors’ Association provides annual funding of €50,000 for the award. The award can be presented to individual researchers or teams involved in any field of research at universities and research institutions in Germany.

Applications/nominations

Researchers may apply themselves or be nominated by someone else. In order to be eligible for the award, researchers have to be employed at a university or non-university research institution in Germany and pursue their communication activities primarily in German-speaking countries. Nominations may be put forward by leaders of universities and research institutions as well as by previous Communicator Award recipients.

Selection criteria

When selecting the prizewinners, the jury recognises the following achievements:

• They break new ground in communication and develop innovative and courageous projects and formats (conceptual framework).
• They pursue identifiable objectives in their communication and address their target groups in a suitable manner (target group orientation).
• They make their research work and findings accessible to non-scientific target groups and engage in public debates (social relevance).
• They lead the way in science communication by motivating and involving younger researchers (role models and drivers).
• They work together with other actors and create networks to achieve their communication objectives (cooperation).
• They have achieved something identifiable with their communication (monitoring).

Selection of recipients

Applications and nominations are evaluated by a jury of science journalists and communication experts chaired by a member of the DFG Executive Committee. Once the jury has reached a decision, the DFG informs the Donors' Association of the award winner. The DFG and the Donors’ Association present the award jointly.

• Jury of the Communicator Award (in German only)

Nomination deadlines

Applications and nominations for the following year's award may be submitted to the German Research Foundation by the deadlines specified in the current call.

Documents

pplications and nominations must include an informative description of what the applicant or team has achieved in the area of science communication and a curriculum vitae. In the case of team applications, the qualifications and achievements of all team members must be included in the application as well as a CV for each member.