The Herder Prize, established in 1963 and named for Johann Gottfried von Herder, was a prestigious international prize dedicated to the promotion of scientific, art and literature relations, and presented to scholars and artists from Central

Central Europe

Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...

 and Southeastern Europe whose life and work have improved the cultural understanding of European countries and their peaceful interrelations.

The jury was composed of German and Austrian universities. Financing for the Herder Award (which amounted to 15,000 €) was ensured by the Alfred Töpfer Foundation

Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F.V.S.

The Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F.V.S. is a German foundation established in 1931 by the Hamburg merchant Alfred Toepfer. The foundation is committed to promoting European unification and ensuring cultural diversity and understanding between the countries of Europe.- History :The rich industrialist...

 in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

. The awards were traditionally presented at the University of Vienna

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

 each year and handed over by the President of Austria

President of Austria

The President of Austria is the federal head of state of Austria. Though theoretically entrusted with great power by the constitution, in practice the President acts, for the most part, merely as a ceremonial figurehead...

. It was also possible to make a nomination for a one-year Herder scholarship (900-1000 € monthly) at an Austrian university.

In 2007, the Herder Prize merged with another fund creating a new European culture prize worth 75,000 € and designed to encourage young European artists.

List of recipients

Year	Name	Nationality and occupation
1964	Jan Kott Jan Kott Jan Kott was a well-known Polish critic and theoretician of the theatre.Born in Warsaw in 1914, Kott moved to the United States in 1966 and lectured at Yale and Berkeley. A poet, translator, and critic, he was also one of the finest essayists of the Polish school...	Polish theater critic
1965	Tudor Arghezi Tudor Arghezi Tudor Arghezi was a Romanian writer, best known for his contribution to poetry and children's literature. Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest , he explained that his pen name was related to Argesis, the Latin name for the Argeş River.-Early life:Along with Mihai Eminescu, Mateiu Caragiale, and...	Romanian writer
	László Németh László Németh László Németh was a Hungarian dentist, writer, dramatist and essayist. He was born in Nagybánya the son of József Németh and Vilma Gaál . Over the Christmas of 1925, he married Ella Démusz , the daughter of János Démusz, a keeper of a public house. Between 1926 and 1944 they had six daughters, but...	Hungarian writer
1966	Ján Cikker Ján Cikker Ján Cikker was a Slovak composer, a leading exponent of modern Slovak classical music. He was awarded the title National Artist in Slovakia, the Herder Prize and the UNESCO Prize .-Life:...	Slovak composer
1967	Witold Lutosławski	Polish composer
	Mihai Pop Mihai Pop Mihai Pop was a Romanian ethnologist. He won the Herder Prize in 1967. Notable works include Obiceiuri tradiţionale româneşti and Folclor românesc...	Romanian ethnologist
	Vladimír Kompánek Vladimír Kompánek Vladimír Kompánek was a Slovak sculptor and painter. He won the Herder Prize in 1967.Between 1947 - 1949 he studied at the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava, then from 1949 - 1954 at the College of Fine Arts.His wooden sculptures draw ideas from the rural environment...	Slovak sculptor
1968	Lajos Vayer	Hungarian art historian
1969	Pancho Vladigerov Pancho Vladigerov Pancho Haralanov Vladigerov was a Bulgarian composer, pedagogue, and pianist....	Bulgarian composer, pedagogue, and pianist
1970	Gyula Illyés Gyula Illyés Gyula Illyés was a Hungarian poet and novelist. He was one of the so called népi writers, named so because they aimed to show – propelled by strong sociological interest and left-wing convictions – the disadvantageous conditions of their native land.-Early life:He was born...	Hungarian poet and novelist
	Zoltan Franjo	Romanian poet and translator
1971	Zaharia Stancu Zaharia Stancu Zaharia Stancu was a Romanian prose writer, novelist, poet, and philosopher.Stancu was born in 1902 in Salcia, a village in Teleorman County, Romania. After leaving school at the age of thirteen he worked at various jobs. In 1921, with the help of Gala Galaction, he became a journalist...	Romanian writer
1972	Gyula Ortutay Gyula Ortutay Gyula Ortutay was a Hungarian ethnographer and politician, who served as Minister of Religion and Education between 1947 and 1950.-Early life:...	Hungarian ethnographer
	Virgil Vătăşianu	Romanian art historian
	Atanas Dalchev Atanas Dalchev Atanas Hristov Dalchev was a Bulgarian poet, critic and translator. He is an author of poetry that brightly touches some philosophical problems. He translates poetry and fiction from French, Spanish, English, German and Russian authors...	Bulgarian poet, critic and translator
1973	Zbigniew Herbert Zbigniew Herbert Zbigniew Herbert was an influential Polish poet, essayist, drama writer, author of plays, and moralist. A member of the Polish resistance movement – Home Army during World War II, he is one of the best known and the most translated post-war Polish writers...	Polish poet, essayist and moralist
1975	Nichita Stănescu Nichita Stanescu Nichita Stănescu was a Romanian poet and essayist. He is the most acclaimed contemporary Romanian language poet, loved by the public and generally held in esteem by literary critics.-Biography:...	Romanian poet
	Gabor Presisch	Hungarian architect
1976	Dezső Keresztury Dezső Keresztury Dezső Keresztury was a Hungarian poet and politician, who served as Minister of Religion and Education between 1945 and 1947. He became member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1982.-References:*...	Hungarian writer, poet
	Marin Goleminov Marin Goleminov Marin Petrov Goleminov was a Bulgarian composer, violinist, conductor and pedagogue.Goleminov was born in Kyustendil; the son of an attorney, he studied law before switching to music...	Bulgarian composer
1977	Eugen Barbu Eugen Barbu Eugen Barbu was a Romanian modern novelist, short story writer, journalist, and correspondent member of the Romanian Academy. The latter position was vehemently criticized by those who contended that he plagiarized in his novel Incognito and for the anti-Semitic campaigns he initiated in the...	Romanian novelist, playwright and journalist
	Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...	Polish composer
1978	Béla Gunda	Hungarian ethnographer
1979	Ferenc Farkas Ferenc Farkas Ferenc Farkas was a Hungarian composer.Farkas began his studies in composition at the Budapest Academy of Music , where his teachers were Leo Weiner and Albert Siklós. He later studied with Ottorino Respighi in Rome...	Hungarian composer
1980	Emil Condurachi	Romanian academician, historian
1981	Sándor Csoóri Sándor Csoóri Sándor Csoóri is a Hungarian poet, essayist, writer and politician.-Biography:In 1950, he graduated from the Reformed Pontifical College , and then studied at ELTE Institute, but dropped his studies because of illness...	Hungarian poet, writer
1982	Ana Blandiana Ana Blandiana Ana Blandiana is a Romanian poet, essayist, and political figure. She took her name after Blandiana, near Vinţu de Jos, Alba County, her mother's home village.-Literary career:...	Romanian poet, essayist, and political figure
	Imre Varga	Hungarian sculptor
1983
	Władysław Bartoszewski	Polish historian and politician
	Jozef Jankovič	Slovak sculptor
	György Konrád György Konrád György Konrád is a Hungarian novelist and essayist, known as an advocate of individual freedom. He was a dissident under the communist regime.- Life :...	Hungarian novelist and essayist
	Adrian Marino	Romanian literary critic
Stoimen Stoilov	Bulgarian artist
1984	Constantin Lucaci Constantin Lucaci Constantin Lucaci is a Romanian contemporary sculptor, best known for his monumentalist sculptures and his kinetic fountains most made from stainless steel , among which those from the Romanian cities of Reşiţa and Constanţa are best known.Since 1993, Constantin Lucaci has been a...	Romanian sculptor
	Krzysztof Meyer Krzysztof Meyer Krzysztof Meyer is a Polish composer, pianist and music scholar.-Biography:Meyer was born in Cracow. As a boy he played piano and organ. He began his composition study early – in 1954, with Stanisław Wiechowicz...	Polish composer
1985	Adrian Marino	Romanian literary critic, historian and theoretician
1986	Tekla Dömötör	Hungarian writer
	Anatol Vieru Anatol Vieru Anatol Vieru was a music theoretician, influential pedagogue, and a leading Romanian-Jewish composer of the 20th century. A pupil of Aram Khachaturian, he composed seven symphonies, eight string quartets, numerous concertos, and much chamber music. He also wrote three operas: Iona , Praznicul...	Romanian composer
1987	József Ujfalussy	Hungarian aesthete
1988	Ana Blandiana Ana Blandiana Ana Blandiana is a Romanian poet, essayist, and political figure. She took her name after Blandiana, near Vinţu de Jos, Alba County, her mother's home village.-Literary career:...	Romanian poet
	Zoe Dumitrescu Bușulenga	Romanian literature historian and critic
	Constantin Noica Constantin Noica Constantin Noica was a Romanian philosopher, essayist and poet. His preoccupations were throughout all philosophy, from epistemology, philosophy of culture, axiology and philosophic anthropology to ontology and logics, from the history of philosophy to systematic philosophy, from ancient to...	Romanian philosopher and essayist
	György Györffy György Györffy György Györffy was a Hungarian historian, and member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences .-Biography:...	Hungarian historian
1990	Dejan Medaković Dejan Medakovic Dejan Medaković was a Serbian writer, historian and professor who resided in Belgrade...	Serbian art historian and poet
	András Vizkelety	Hungarian philologist
1991	Marin Sorescu Marin Sorescu - Biography :Born to a family of farmworkers in Bulzeşti, Dolj County, Sorescu graduated from the primary school in his home village. After that he went to the Buzesti Brothers High School in Craiova, after which he was transferred to the Predeal Military School. His final education was at the...	Romanian poet, playwright, and novelist
	Stoimen Stoilov	Bulgarian artist
1992	Zmaga Kumer	Slovenian musicologist, Slavics scholar, and folklore researcher
1994	Sándor Kányádi Sándor Kányádi Sándor Kányádi is an ethnic Hungarian poet and translator from the geographical region Transylvania, Romania. He is one of the most famous contemporary Hungarian-language poets.-Biography:...	Hungarian poet
	Zigmas Zinkevičius Zigmas Zinkevicius Zigmas Zinkevičius is a leading Lithuanian linguist-historian, professor at Vilnius University, and a true member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. He has contributed to studies in the history of languages, onomastics and other areas. Zinkevičius is a recipient of the Herder Prize, which was...	Lithuania Lithuania Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark... n linguist and historian
1995	Wisława Szymborska	Polish poet, essayist and translator
	Jaan Undusk	Estonian writer and literary critic
	Mirko Kovač Mirko Kovac (writer) Mirko Kovač is a Montenegrin, Croatian, and Serbian writer....	Croatian, Serbian, montnegrin, bosno-Herzegovinian writer
1996	Konstantin Iliev	Bulgarian dramatist
	Pēteris Vasks Peteris Vasks Pēteris Vasks is a Latvian composer.Vasks was born in Aizpute, Latvia, into the family of a Baptist pastor. He trained as a violinist at the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music, as a double-bass player with Vitautas Sereikaan at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and played in several...	Latvian composer
1997	Bogdan Bogdanović Bogdan Bogdanović Bogdan Bogdanović was a Serbian architect, urbanist and essayist. He taught architecture at the University of Belgrade, where he also served as dean...	Serbian architect
	Ferenc Glatz Ferenc Glatz Ferenc Glatz is a Hungarian historian and academic. He has served three terms as the president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.-Biography:Ferenc Glatz was born in Csepel on 2 April 1941...	Hungarian academician, professor
	Jaan Kross Jaan Kross -Early life:Born in Tallinn, Estonia, studied Jacob Westholm´s Grammar school, Kross attended the University of Tartu and graduated from its School of Law...	Estonian writer
1998	Imre Bak	Hungarian artist
	Andrei Corbea Hoişie	Romanian philologist
1999	Mircea Dinescu Mircea Dinescu Mircea Dinescu is a Romanian poet, journalist and editor.He was born in Slobozia, the son of Ştefan Dinescu, a metalworker and Aurelia . Dinescu studied at the Faculty of Journalism of the Ştefan Gheorghiu Academy, and was considered a gifted young poet during his youth, with several poetry...	Romanian poet, editor and dissident
	István Fried	Hungarian literary scholar
	Svetlana Alexievich Svetlana Alexievich Svetlana Alexievich is a Belarusian investigative journalist and prose writer.-Life:Born in the Ukrainian town of Stanislav to a Belarusian father and a Ukrainian mother, she grew up in Belarus...	Byelorussian investigative journalist
2000	Imre Kertész Imre Kertész Imre Kertész is a Hungarian Jewish author, Holocaust concentration camp survivor, and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2002 "for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history"....	Hungarian writer
	Milan Kundera Milan Kundera Milan Kundera , born 1 April 1929, is a writer of Czech origin who has lived in exile in France since 1975, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1981. He is best known as the author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, and The Joke. Kundera has written in...	Czech writer
	Arvo Pärt Arvo Pärt Arvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...	Estonian composer
2001	Yuri Andrukhovych Yuri Andrukhovych Yuri Andrukhovych is a Ukrainian prose writer, poet, essayist, and translator. With Oleksandr Irvanets and Viktor Neborak, he co-founded the Bu-Ba-Bu poetic group in 1985 .-Personal life:Yuri Andrukhovych is the father of Sofia...	Ukrainian writer
	Janez Bernik	Slovenian painter
	János Böhönyey	Hungarian architect
	Marek Kopelent Marek Kopelent Marek Kopelent is a renowned Czech contemporary composer, who is considered to be at the forefront of the "New Music" movement.-Biography:Kopelent was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on 28 April 1932...	Czech composer
2002	Péter Esterházy Péter Esterházy Péter Esterházy is one of the most widely known contemporary Hungarian writers. His books are considered to be significant contributions to postwar literature....	Hungarian writer
2003	Drago Jančar Drago Jancar Drago Jančar is a Slovenian writer, playwright and essayist. Jančar is one of the most known contemporary Slovene writers. In Slovenia, he is also famous for his political commentaries and civic engagement.-Life:...	Slovenian novelist and dramatist
	Károly Manherz	Hungarian Germanist, linguist, professor
	Ana Maria Zahariade	Romanian architect
2004	Theodore Antoniou Theodore Antoniou Theodore Antoniou , is a Greek composer and conductor. His works vary from operas and choral works to chamber music, from film and theatre music to solo instrumental works. In addition to his career as composer and conductor, he also holds the position of professor of composition at Boston University...	Greek composer and conductor
	Éva Pócs Éva Pócs Éva Pócs is associate professor in the Department of Ethnography and Cultural Anthropology at Janus Pannonius University, Pécs, Hungary, and president of the Folklore Section of the Hungarian Ethnographic Society. She is an author of several books dealing with supernatural beliefs and patterns of...	Hungarian ethnographer
2005	Károly Klimó Károly Klimó Károly Klimó is a Hungarian artist, one of the best known Hungarian artists of the present day. He is a non-figurative artist, member of the Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Arts....	Hungarian artist
	Hanna Krall Hanna Krall Hanna Krall is a Polish writer.-Childhood:Krall is of Jewish origin. During World War II she lost some of her close relatives. She survived the war only because she was hidden from the Nazis.-Journalism:...	Polish journalist and writer
	Primoz Kuret	Slovenian historian and musicologist
	Jiří Kuthan	Czech historian and art historian
	Andrei Marga Andrei Marga Andrei Marga is a Romanian philosopher, political scientist, and politician. Rector – for the second time – of the Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, he was a member of the Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party , serving as Minister of Education in the Democratic Convention coalition...	Romanian professor, philosopher
	Eimuntas Nekrošius Eimuntas Nekrošius Eimuntas Nekrošius is one of the most renowned theatre directors in Lithuania.- Career :...	Lithuanian theater director
	Krešimir Nemec	Croatian literary critic
2006	Wlodzimierz Borodziej	Polish historian
	Nicos Hadzinikolau	Greek art historian
	Gabriela Kilianova	Slovak ethnologist
	Ene Mihkelson Ene Mihkelson Ene Mihkelson is an Estonian writer.-Education:Mihkelson studied literature after completing her secondary education. She worked as a teacher and then as a researcher for the Estonian Literary Museum.-Literature:...	Estonian writer
	Vojteh Ravnikar Vojteh Ravnikar Vojteh Ravnikar was a Slovenian architect.-Early life:Ravnikar was born in Ljubljana, in what was then the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, but spent most of his childhood years in the town of Nova Gorica in western Slovenia...	Slovenian architect, professor

External links

• Alfred Töpfer Foundation
• University of Vienna