Berlin Prize

The Berlin Prize is a residential fellowship at the Hans Arnhold Center, awarded by the American Academy in Berlin to scholars and artists. Each year, about 20 fellows are selected.

The stated mission of the program is to improve the transatlantic dialogue in the arts, humanities, and public policy through the development and communication of projects of the highest scholarly merit.

The program is privately funded through donations, with the Kellen-Arnhold family as Academy's primary source of financial support.

History
The creation of the Academy and the program was driven by Richard C. Holbrooke, an American diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador to Germany towards the waning days of the Cold War. As the last of the American troops were leaving Berlin, Holbrooke proposed the academy as a way of maintaining U.S-German ties. The academy was created in 1994 and the first class of fellows were brought in September 1998.

Recipients come from a wide range of academic fields and have included anthropologists, art historians, historians, philosophers, musicologists, sociologists, legal scholars, and economists, among others.

Eligibility
Fellows must based permanently in the United States, though are not required to be U.S. citizens. American expatriates are explicitly stated to not be eligible.

Academic candidates are expected to have completed a doctorate at the time of application, whereas applicants working in fields such as journalism, filmmaking, or public policy must have equivalent professional degrees or experience. Writers must have published at least one book.