Hans Stieber Prize

The Hans Stieber Prize is a promotional prize for composers of serious and light music, which is awarded by the fiduciary trust Hans Stieber Foundation of the Landesverband Sachsen-Anhalt Deutscher Komponistenverband based in Halle (Saale). The name giver and dedicatee is Hans Stieber (1886–1969), composer and founding director of the Staatliche Hochschule für Theater und Musik Halle.

It was donated after Stieber's death by his widow Gretl Stieber in 1977 from his inheritance and awarded annually until 1989 to mainly young composers of the GDR. After the Peaceful Revolution, Stieber's heirs asserted a replevin regarding the foundation's assets, which meant that the award had to be suspended for the time being.

A judgment of the Oberlandesgericht Naumburg and a financial increase by the Saalesparkasse in Halle made the revival of the prize by the LVDK under the direction of Thomas Buchholz possible in 2000. The latter now offered the prize every two to four years as part of a competition for young composers as well as for musicologists publishing in the field of Neue Musik. It has since been awarded as part of the contemporary music festival Hallische Musiktage.

Competition rules
The competition conditions were adapted in the course of the 2000s. Applicants up to the age of 23 or 25 with residence in the Federal Republic of Germany can take part. In order to deepen Germany's relationship with Eastern Europe and the CIS states, the residence criterion was then dropped for these participants.

An independent Jury selects the prize winners from anonymous scores. It is composed of the Board of Trustees of the Hans Stieber Foundation (chair: Willi Vogl, later Bernhard Schneyer), other appointed jurors and the advisory jury member Thomas Buchholz. The members are usually composers (among others Günter Neubert) and conductors.

The divisible prize money amounts to 1,000 euros (previously 2,000 D-Mark ). Furthermore, prizes in kind will be awarded, including participation in a summer course of the Composers' Class Saxony-Anhalt. The award ceremony takes place within the framework of the Hallische Musiktage. For this purpose, a festive concert will be held at the Handel House in Halle.

The scores of the prize-winning works will be transferred to the archives of the Bibliothek der Stiftung Händel-Haus in Halle.