Prizes and Awards

This year, the Herder Prize, which is endowed with 2,000 euros, is being conferred to students from the teacher training programme in Fine Art Education (Secondary School) (»Lehramt an Gymnasien Kunst«). In the programme’s introductory project entitled »Almost Perfect« (Fast Perfekt), the prospective teachers explored the topic of »Perfection«. The prize acknowledges artistically sophisticated and innovative work offering contemporary interpretations of Johann Gottfried Herder’s ideas, which addresses social challenges and proposes creative long-term solutions.

On Friday 11 July 2025, the Fine Arts graduate Jakob Nickels was awarded the 2025 Lyonel Art Award for his final project entitled »Gentle Strength«. The award honours the final projects of up-and-coming young talents from the Faculty of Art & Design and is endowed with 2,000 euros in prize money. It has been conferred by the Lyonel Verein zur Förderung von Kunst, Gestaltung und Kultur (Lyonel e. V.)« every year since 2019.

Die Gesellschaft für interdisziplinäre Bildwissenschaft (GiB) hat Tobias Held mit dem diesjährigen Wissenschaftspreis in der Kategorie »Dissertation« ausgezeichnet. Seine Arbeit mit dem Titel »Einblick: Gestalterische Potentiale und Perspektiven der Videotelefonie im Kontext von Nähe und Distanz. Eine praxis-basierte, (re-)kontextualisierende und diskursanalytische Studie« wurde im Rahmen der Mitgliederversammlung der GiB am 29. Juni 2025 in Münster feierlich gewürdigt.

Pascal Stappen has received the 2025 iF Design Student Award in the »Quality Education« category for his final project »Avito«, a bird station to be used in daycare centres and primary schools. The award ceremony was held at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

Natascha Tümpel, Promovendin des Promotionsstudienganges der Fakultät Kunst und Gestaltung, wurde für den zweiten Platz des Wissenschaftspreises 2025 der Gesellschaft für interdisziplinäre Bildwissenschaft e.V. (GIB) nominiert. Mit ihrer Einreichung, dem Aufsatz »Künstlerisches Prozesswissen im Bildgestalten« konnte sie sich im Wettbewerb der GIB gegenüber einer Vielzahl hochqualitativer Einreichungen als Zweitplatzierung durchsetzen.

With one Silver Nail and two Bronze Nails as well as two additional awards, design students from the Faculty of Art and Design have once again impressed at the renowned ADC Talent Award. The award-winning projects were designed in the Visuelle Kommunikation (Visual Communication) and Media Art and Design degree programmes and display a broad range of design and content, from biodiversity and typography to collective authorship, protest culture, and philosophically motivated forms of publication.

Renowned neuroscientist Wolf Singer will be a guest at the Faculty of Art and Design at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar on Tuesday, 27 May 2025 at 7 pm. With his public lecture on »Oszillationen, Wellen und Interferenzen als Lingua Franca der Großhirnrinde« (oscillations, waves, and interface as the lingua franca of the cerebral cortex), he will be opening his new lecture series »Sonic Talks«, which will focus on focus on rhythm, sound and healing in the 2025 summer semester.

Niels Cremer and Tom Kemter received an honourable mention at the Rimowa Design Prize ceremony on Tuesday, 13 May 2025. Their »Standalone« redesign of the traditional crutch won over the jury. The Produktdesign (Product Design) students from the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar received a total of 10,000 euros in prize money for their design.

Ursula Damm, professor and media artist in the Faculty of Art and Design, has been awarded first prize in the »Kunst am Bau« competition for her design »Eine biologische Uhr« (a biological clock). The competition coincided with the construction of the new »Kooperationsgebäudes Biodiversität« on campus at the Freie Universität Berlin. The jury recommended that Damm’s idea be implemented.

The film documents the rescue of 104 individuals in the Mediterranean Sea. How a sea rescue takes place is hard to imagine. Jonathan Schörnig, a Media Art and Design student at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, portrays this dramatic situation from the perspective of the rescuers in his documentary film »Einhundertvier«. The film has been awarded the prestigious 2025 »Grimme-Pries« in the »Information & Kultur« (information & culture) category.