left to right: Markus Drzymalla (Sony Music), Thorsten Wessel (Universal Music), Hannah Schmidbauer (Popakademie), Sanela Janjos (Outbrain), Florian Rößler (Popakademie), Florian Abanto (Popakademie), Ann Katrin-Kaimer (Popakademie), Anne Zander (Landstreicher Booking), Steffi Liebenow, Björn Döring (buero doering - Fachhandel für Ereignisse), Stefanie Hübers (Universal Music) © Steffen Junghanß

Pop academics changing the Preis für Popkultur (price for pop culture)

05. July 2023

The project of the students Ann-Katrin Kaimer, Hannah Schmidbauer, Florian Rößler and Florian Abanto (students of the master program Music and Creative Industries) within the framework of the project workshop made it possible to develop a new concept for the voting process of the Prize for Pop Culture.

The Preis für Popkultur (Prize for Pop Culture), one of the most important awards for modern pop music in Germany, is introducing a new jury of experts in order to adequately reflect the diversity of the pop culture scene in the award ceremony and to ensure transparency. The new expert jury consists of outstanding personalities from the music industry, who will contribute their many years of experience and their comprehensive expertise to the evaluation of the nominated artists and thus stand for more diversity and quality.
The new expert jury is composed as follows:

Antje Schomaker, musician and songwriter
Conny Zhang, Head of Music GSA at Spotify
Feline Moje, Senior Director Recorded Music and Territory Lead GSA at BMG
Jo Megow, marketing, PR and facilitation, co-organizer of the Sound of the Forest Festival
Markus Drzymalla, Chairman of the Board at the Association for Pop Culture and Senior Product Manager at Sony Music Entertainment
Novaa, producer, songwriter and singer
Steph Karl, host and founder of Hey!StephTV and International Collaborations & Special Projects Manager at Atlantic Records Germany
Thorsten Mathieu, responsible music editor at Deutschlandfunk Nova
Tina Koppelin, Senior Marketing Director GSA at AWAL

Former Popackdemie student, Berlin producer, songwriter and singer Novaa wants to contribute to the further development of the award in her new role as a jury member: "The Pop Culture Award has been criticized a lot and I also see many things that can be done better in the design of the award. That's why I'm very happy that over time more and more changes and steps are being taken, which I think go exactly where the award contributes to a fairer, healthier, more loving industry. And I'm all the more pleased to have been asked to be part of the team of experts to help shape another step."
The decision to introduce the Expert:innen jury followed a study project with students from the renowned Popakademie Baden-Württemberg, which took place from September to December 2022. The aim of the project was to explore ways to increase diversity within the award and the association. Alex Wolf, Head of Institute Music and Creative Industries Practice & Corporate Communications Popakademie Baden-Württemberg, says: "We are very pleased that the students of our master's program Music and Creative Industries, in the context of the Popakademie's project workshop, in close cooperation with the board of the Prize for Pop Culture, were able to contribute to bringing the award ceremony of the independent music and media prize one step forward, through more transparency in the voting process and especially more diversity within the nominees. This development should be groundbreaking and a positive example to drive overall change in the industry."

More about the new voting process here
More info about the Preis für Popkultur here