The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Preis is awarded every year by the German Research Foundation, the DFG. It has existed since 1986 and is called the most important research funding prize in Germany. Each winner receives 2.5 million euros. Winners can use the money for their research for up to seven years, nach ihren eigenen Vorstellungen und ohne bürokratischen Aufwand, according to their own ideas and without bureaucratic effort. Up to ten prizes can be awarded per year. The ten winners for 2026 were chosen from 144 proposals. By December 2025, twelve Leibniz winners had later received a Nobel Prize.
awards
Chamber Singer, Chamber Musician
In Germany, members of opera ensembles can receive honorary titles: Kammersänger, chamber singer, and Kammermusiker, chamber musician. In Saxony an administrative regulation of 22 June 1998 sets the conditions for the Saxon State Opera in Dresden and the Landesbühnen Sachsen. A singer needs leading artistic achievements and continuous, regular and successful work in the productions. An orchestra musician needs outstanding artistic achievements and at least five years of unbroken membership of the ensemble in Dresden, or eight at the Landesbühnen. To keep the titles from losing their value, at most three a year may be awarded at the Dresden State Opera, and one at the Landesbühnen.
The Business Plan Competition
Since 1995 the Businessplan-Wettbewerb Berlin-Brandenburg, a competition of written business plans, has supported new founders. Two independent jurors review each plan confidentially against fixed criteria, and every participant receives individual feedback. In the 2025 competition there were 557 submissions, and 213 jurors wrote 1,114 evaluations. According to the organizers, 12,577 business concepts have been submitted since the competition began, and 2,370 companies have come out of it. Participants can now submit a Business Model Canvas instead of, or alongside, a full plan. Each phase also includes a pitch event, where teams receive direct feedback from the jury.
The President’s Prize
Since 1997 the Federal President has awarded the Deutscher Zukunftspreis, the German Future Prize for technology and innovation. It carries 250,000 euros, and the public broadcaster ZDF shows the ceremony in its evening program. Under its statutes, the honored work must be one that will with high probability be marketable and so create jobs. On 17 November 2021 the prize went to Uğur Şahin, Özlem Türeci, Christoph Huber and Katalin Karikó of BioNTech, who had developed a vaccine against COVID-19 at unprecedented speed. On 27 November 2024 Frank-Walter Steinmeier gave the 28th prize to a team from ams-OSRAM and a Fraunhofer institute for a new car headlight. It uses more than 25,000 tiny LEDs in a matrix, so that the light can be adapted to each situation.
Declining Decorations
In Hamburg, accepting a state decoration has long been considered improper for those in public office. The rule goes back to Hamburg city law of the 13th century. Today it is called Hanseatische Ablehnung, the Hanseatic refusal. It is still frowned upon among senators, members of the city parliament and public employees. Bremen’s Senate recorded the same custom in 1893. Helmut Schmidt, a former Hamburg senator, declined the Federal Order of Merit in 1968 in keeping with this tradition. He declined it several more times later.
Praise Inflation
Awards in the American culture are omnipresent, ubiquitous – everywhere. A critical, and self-critical, discussion has begun. It is small, but growing. Many in the U.S. believe that there is too much praised given, often when not earned, often inflated.
The fear is that generations of Americans are being raised with unrealistic expectations, with an inaccurate estimation of themselves, of their abilities. The danger is that these generations will become frustrated, angry, or even worse, not willing to work as hard as is needed in order to succeed.
A growing number of Americans are no longer willing to call things great, super, fantastic, awesome, or amazing. They do not believe that schools systems should give grades higher than what is statistically possible, such as higher than a 4.0, which is equivalent to an A or a 1.0.
… of the Month
Americans value public recognition. To be recognized in the presence of peers, customers, friends, family brings real satisfaction. And it takes place on a daily basis in the U.S.
In schools, at the worksplace, in sports, politics and business. Americans track the ups, the downs, who’s winning, who’s losing. The more quantifiable, the better. Statistics. Rankings. Percentages.
It can be comical. It can be inflationary. In some cases, it has become a bit absurd. But it speaks to both the importance and the form of feedback in American society. Americans are motivated by recognition, given in public.
Acknowledgement: recognition or favorable notice of an act or achievement.
QIC Awards
Every year the American National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) grants Quality in Construction (QIC) awards to any asphalt producer, paving contractor, and/or road owner in the United States who completes a project “that deliver(s) on the promise of high performance and drivability.“
In 2014, 205 projects were honored with a QIC Award, and of those 90 projects were singled out for their use for sustainable construction practices (such as using recycled materials). Some of the 2014 winning projects include:
Golden Gate Constructors of San Jose, California for work on the San Francisco International Airport. The company had to construct new taxiways to allow for installation of an engineered material arrestor system. Crews worked round the clock to produce a high quality pavement under budget and 30 days ahead of schedule, allowing an early reopening of the runways.
Everett Dykes Grassing Co. Inc. of Cochran, Georgia for work on SR 27 in Appling County. The project included milling, resurfacing, and shoulder rehabilitation, and through the use of careful paving techniques and careful quality control, the company produced a pavement that was 58 percent smoother than the previous road.
J.H. Rudolph & Co. Inc. of Evansville, Indiana for work on Evansville Regional Airport, which included rehabilitation, reconstruction and new construction work. Paving with multiple laydown techniques and employing strict quality control, J. H. Rudolph & Co. achieved a smooth pavement seven days ahead of schedule.
Earle Asphalt Co. of Farmingdale, New Jersey for work on SH 33 in Monmouth County. The project required the mill and overlay of both westbound and eastbound roads to achieve a 36.5 percent improvement in ride quality. Paving crews worked at night to limit traffic disruptions.
Malcolm Baldrige Award
This award was established in 1987 by the U.S. Congress in order to raise awareness of quality management and to recognize American companies that use successful quality management systems.
Initially, awards were only given in 3 categories: manufacturing, service businesses, and small businesses. However, in 1999 education and healthcare categories were added, and finally in 2007 a government and nonprofit category was added.
Up to 3 awards can be given in each category annually, and the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology manages the award. Recipients are chosen based on their performance in seven areas:
Leadership: How upper management leads the organization, and how the organization leads within the community.
Strategic planning: How the organization establishes and plans to implement strategic directions.
Customer and market focus: How the organization builds and maintains strong, lasting relationships with customers.
Measurement, analysis, and knowledge management: How the organization uses data to support key processes and manage performance.
Human resource focus: How the organization empowers and involves its workforce.
Process management: How the organization designs, manages and improves key processes.
Business/organizational performance results: How the organization performs in terms of customer satisfaction, finances, human resources, supplier and partner performance, operations, governance and social responsibility, and how the organization compares to its competitors.