Media Foundation awards the Günter Eich Prize 2019 to radio play duo Andreas Ammer and FM Einheit
Leipzig, 25 June 2019. Today, Tuesday evening, the Günter Eich Prize 2019 was awarded to the author duo Andreas Ammer and FM Einheit (real name: Franz-Martin Strauß). The prize is awarded every two years by the Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig to radio play authors whose radio works have expanded the repertoire of this genre in a multi-faceted and continuous manner. The prize is endowed with 10,000 euros.
"Andreas Ammer and FM Einheit have developed into a - one could say - congenial duo," says Stephan Seeger, Managing Director of Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig, about the laureates. "As our jury described it, the duo 'liberated' the radio play, opening up this art form for theatres and concert arenas. In the over 65-year long history of the 'Hörspielpreises der Kriegsblinden' ('Radio Play Prize of the War Blind'), Ammer and FM Einheit are the only authors ever to have won the prize twice", Seeger continues: "This may be proof that our jury's decision to honour these two authors was correct.
"The name Günter Eich is one of the most beautiful names you can adorn yourself with in the radio play scene", Andreas Ammer was pleased to say during the award ceremony: Without a doubt, you are socialized differently than Günter Eich, during whose lifetime radio was a medium of the word: "I was a listener of the band 'Einstürzende Neubauten', that was my radio play training". For FM Einheit, the prize also means the opportunity to continue: "It shows that we continue to offer what is in demand". He found it "charming" to get the radio play out of the studio and put it on stage: "With a counterpart, there is a completely different energy than in the studio", said FM Einheit while talking with Thomas Bille, the presenter of the award ceremony.
Andreas Ammer and FM Einheit have been producing joint radio plays for public broadcasters in Germany for several decades as well as commissioned works for renowned German theatres such as the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel or the Bonn Opera.
The jury of the Günter Eich Prize honours the joint oeuvre of Andreas Ammer and FM Einheit. The jury included: Wolfgang Schiffer (Chairman), Linde Rotta, Dr Gaby Hartel, Elmar Krekeler and Heinrich Vogler.
About the laureates:
Andreas Ammer, born in Munich in 1960, is an author and journalist. Since 2003 he has been working as the producer of the ARD literary programme "druckfrisch" and has also produced numerous radio plays and theatre productions, mostly with FM Einheit.
FM Einheit, born in Dortmund in 1958, and works as a composer, musician and music producer. Since 1979 he has been active as a musician in various formations, since the beginning of the 1980s he has been a percussionist and member of the "Einstürzenden Neubauten". In addition, he has performed numerous radio plays, especially together with Andreas Ammer.
About the prize:
The Günter Eich Prize, awarded for the sixth time by Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig, is aimed at authors who have dedicated an oeuvre of content-related and formal competence to the genre of radio play. It is awarded annually in alternation with the Axel-Eggebrecht-Preis for radio features. Previous laureates have been Alfred Behrens (2007), Eberhard Petschinka (2009), Hubert Wiedfeld (2011), Jürgen Becker (2013), Ror Wolf (2015) and Friederike Mayröcker (2017).