Goethe Medal
German award conferred by the Goethe-Institut (1955-)
The Goethe Medal, also known as the Goethe-Medaille, is a yearly prize given by the Goethe-Institut honoring non-Germans "who have performed outstanding service for the German language and for international cultural relations". It is an official decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. The prize used to be given on 22 March, the anniversary of Goethe's death. Since 2009, it has been given on 28 August, the anniversary of Goethe's birth. The first awards were made in 1955. In the intervening years, through 2018, a total of 348 women and men from 65 countries have been so honored. It is not to be confused with Goethe-Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft (1932–1944), Goethe Prize and Goetheplakette der Stadt Frankfurt am Main.
Recent recipients
Source:
2026
Arvo Pärt, composer, Estonia
Anita Raja, translator, Italy
Prodromos Tsinikoris, theatre director, dramaturge and actor, Greece
2025
Osman Kavala, cultural promoter, Turkey
Li Yuan, German studies scholar, China
David Van Reybrouck, cultural historian, archaeologist and author, Belgium
2024
Claudia Cabrera, literary translator and interpreter, Mexico
Iskra Geshoska, art historian and cultural manager, North Macedonia
Carmen Romero Quero, founder and director of the theatre festival Teatro a Mil, Chile
2023
Gaga Chkheidze, film manager, Georgia
Yi-Wei Keng, curator, dramaturg, and translator, Taiwan
OFF-Biennale Budapest, Hungary
2022
Mohamed Abla, multimedia artist, Egypt
Tali Nates, historian and director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, South Africa
Nimi Ravindran und Shiva Pathak from Sandbox Collective, artists and arts administrators, India
2021
Marilyn Douala Bell, Socio-economist
Toshio Hosokawa, Composer
Wen Hui, Choreographer
2020
Zukiswa Wanner, Writer, publisher and curator
Ian McEwan, Author
Elvira Espejo Ayca, Artist and museum director
2019
Enkhbat Roozon, Publisher, bookseller and political journalist
Shirin Neshat, Artist and filmmaker
Doğan Akhanlı, freelance author of novels and essays in Turkish, and a play in German
2018
Heidi Abderhalden and Rolf Abderhalden (Mapa Teatro), Colombian theater maker
Claudia Andujar, Brazilian photographer and activist
Péter Eötvös, Hungarian composer and conductor
2017
Urvashi Butalia, Indian feminist and historian
Emily Nasrallah, Lebanese writer
Irina Shcherbakova, Russian historian and journalist
2016
Akinbode Akinbiyi, British-Nigerian photographer
Yurii Andrukhovych, Ukrainian writer and translator
David Lordkipanidze, Georgian anthropologist and archaeologist
2015
Sadiq Jalal al-Azm, Syrian philosopher and writer
Neil MacGregor, British art historian and former museum director
Eva Sopher, German-Brazilian cultural entrepreneur
2014
Krystyna Meissner, Polish director
Robert Wilson, American director and playwright
Gerard Mortier, (posthumously) Belgian opera director
2013
S. Mahmoud Hosseini Zad, Persian translator of German literature.
Naveen Kishore, publisher of Seagull Books.
Petros Markaris, Greek novelist.
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