German Non-Fiction Prize

The Jury selected by the Academy of the German Non-Fiction Prize

Dr. Sibylle Anderl

Maja Brankovic

Dr. Manuela Lenzen

Pascal Mathéus

Prof. Dr. Patricia Rahemipour

Stefan Spiegel

Dr. Katrin Vohland

Dr. Sibylle Anderl

Sibylle Anderl has been co-head of the popular science magazine ZEIT WISSEN since 2024. Previously she was head of the science department of the print and online F.A.Z. and F.A.S. She studied physics and philosophy and did her doctorate in astronomy/astrophysics on shock waves in the interstellar medium. She is co-editor of the cultural magazine Kursbuch. She has also published non-fiction books with the publishing houses Carl Hanser, C.H.Beck and Matthes & Seitz Berlin. In 2019 she was awarded the Roelin Prize for Science Journalism, and in 2023 she received the medal for science journalism of the German Physical Society.

Maja Brankovic

Maja Brankovic has been deputy editor-in-chief of WirtschaftsWoche since 2023, where she also heads the finance and real estate department. Previously, she worked at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, where she was responsible for the business and value section of F.A.S. and for the “Der Volkswirt” page in F.A.Z. She is one of the founding hosts of the F.A.Z. “Finanzen & Immobilien” podcast. Before becoming a journalist, she studied economics at the universities of Mannheim and Copenhagen, as well as History and Philosophy of Knowledge at ETH Zurich.

Dr. Manuela Lenzen

Manuela Lenzen has a doctorate in philosophy from Bielefeld University and, as a freelance science journalist and non-fiction author, writes primarily about cognitive research and artificial intelligence. Her most recent book “Der elektronische Spiegel. Menschliches Denken und künstliche Intelligenz” (C.H.Beck Verlag) was published in 2023.

Pascal Mathéus

Pascal Mathéus was born in Celle in 1990. He studied history, philosophy and classical studies in Kiel, Freiburg and Zurich, where he was an assistant at the History Department from 2017 to 2022. He has been running the literature blog “Aufklappen” since 2019. In autumn 2022, he took over the Wassermann bookshop in Hamburg, which has been organising the annual “Herbstlese Blankenese festival” since 2024.

Prof. Dr. Patricia Rahemipour

Patricia Rahemipour is director of the Institute for Museum Research and scientific director of the Gipsformerei (Replica Workshop) at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz (National Museums in Berlin, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation). Prior to this, she headed the department of science communication at the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, in the areas of education, archive, publishing and library; she was also head of the Botanical Museum. Ms Rahemipour studied prehistory and early history, classical archaeology and philosophy and received her doctorate in prehistory and early history on the science-historical topic “Archäologie im Scheinwerferlicht. Die Visualisierung der Prähistorie im Film 1895-1930” (“Archaeology in the Spotlight. The Visualisation of Prehistory in Film 1895–1930”). She is chairperson of the Berliner Museumsverband (Association of Museums in Berlin).

Stefan Spiegel

Stefan Spiegel is Head of Content at funk (ARD & ZDF). Together with Maike Penzek, he is responsible for managing the content of the funk network, which has over 60 formats. His work is shaped by changing viewing habits, digital dramaturgy and new forms of storytelling in social media. He also runs the Marmota Maps publishing house together with Lana Bragin, which develops infographic books and maps – especially about the Alps. Spiegel studied economics and worked as a trainee at NDR.

Dr. Katrin Vohland

Katrin Vohland has been director general and scientific director of the Natural History Museum Vienna (NHM Wien) since 1 June 2020. Previously, she was head of the research area museum and society at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN; Natural History Museum). She holds a doctorate in biology and her work has focused on citizen science and biodiversity research.