Call for Application: Study Award 2025/26 of the HGB Friends e.V. and Sparkasse Leipzig
Conditions of application
All HGB students who have not yet registered for their diploma and are not Meisterschüler*innen are eligible to participate. Application deadline is Sunday, December 7, 2025 at 23:59. Please note that applications must be submitted by this deadline.
Applications must be submitted digitally by uploading data to a folder you have created in the HGB nextcloud. Send the link to this folder to oarbeit@hgb-leipzig.de by the application deadline.
The application must be submitted with an already existing artistic work / design or complex of works / designs (no project ideas please), which must be briefly described and clearly presented in a PDF (approx. 1,800 characters, PDF with a maximum of 12 pages + plus 1 page cover sheet as described below. In the case of film work, a summary of max. 3 minutes should also be submitted).
The PDF must be accompanied by a cover page containing the following information (you are welcome to use the form):- Name, e-mail address
- Subject area (book art/graphic design, photography, painting/graphics, media art)
- Supervising professor
- Title of the submitted work
- Biographical details with date of birth and details of any previous exhibitions/awards
Attention: Missing information can lead to exclusion from the procedure!
Procedure / Exhibition / Prize money
The jury, which is made up of one representative each from the HGB Friends e.V., Sparkasse Leipzig, the Rectorate, the hgb gallery, the students and two external members, will select four works from all submitted applications, which will be shown in the study award exhibition parallel to the HGB Rundgang in February 2026 in the hgb gallery.
The total prize money of € 10,000 will be awarded to these four students in such a way that each prize winner receives € 2,000. In addition, the jury will select one of these four prize-winning works to be presented as a “special award” in the study prize catalog. The HGB Friends e.V. supports the production of the study award catalog with a sum of up to € 2,000.
The winners will be announced in December and the award-winning works will be presented on the HGB website. The prize money will be transferred in the form of one-off payments and, in the case of the study prize catalog, against proof of invoices. The official award ceremony with an exhibition of the prizewinners' works will take place in February 2026 as part of the HGB Rundgang.
The winners of the past years:
2024/25:
Hyelim Jeon (Media Art)
Ellen Kolbe (Painting/ Printmaking)
Zoe Popp (Photography)
Merlin Rainer (Painting/ Printmaking)
Romina Vetter (Book Design/ Graphic Design)
Detailed information on the 2024/25 award winners
2023/24:
Photography: Gabriel Enrique Corredor Aristizábal -with special distinction-
Book art / graphic design: Lion Mayer
Painting / graphic design: Kyuhyun Kim
Media art: Mahshid Mahboubifar
Detailed information on the 2023/24 award winners
2022/23:
Painting / Graphics: Lorin Brockhaus - with special distinction -
Book art/ graphic design: Yeongseon Jeong, Nelly Nakahara, Hagen Tanneberger
Photography: Salome Lübke
Media art: Adrian Q. Vardi
Detailed information on the 2022/23 award winners
2021/22
Book art/ graphic design: Anna Breit & Barbara Galizia
Painting/ graphic design: Mara Jenny
Media art: Lydia Marx
Photography: Stephen Stahn
- Recognition Award - Class for Photography & Moving Image Prof. Tina Bara
Detailed information on the 2021/22 award winners
2020/21
Clarita Maria (Photography) - with special distinction
Minhye Chu (media art)
Susanne Kontny (media art/ photography)
Matteo Visentin (photography)
Hyejeong Yoo (Photography)
Detailed information on the 2020/21 award winners
2019
Jonas Rossmeißl (media art) - with special distinction
Ronny Aviram (photography)
Maja Behrmann (painting/graphics)
Musafer Qassim Khalaf (painting/graphics)
Julia Müller (painting/graphics)
2018
1st prize: Josefine Schön (book art/graphic design)
2nd prize: Oscar Lebeck (Photography)
3rd prize: Christian Kölbl (painting/graphics)
2017
1st prize: Julie Hart (media art)
2nd prize: Schreier Johann (painting/graphics) & Beatrice Schütt (media art)
2016
1st prize: Rebecca Korb (photography)
2nd prize: Fabian Hampel (media art)
3rd prize: Jennifer König (painting/graphics)
2015
1st prize: Christian Doege
2nd prize: Max Richter
3rd prize: Alexander Repp
2014
1st prize: Hanna Stiegeler (photography)
2nd prize: Julian Irlinger (painting/graphics)
3rd prize: Burkhard Beschow (media art) & Anne Fellner (painting/graphics)
2013
1st prize: Cosima zu Knyphausen (painting/graphics)
2nd prize: Stefanie Heinze (painting/graphics)
3rd prize: Christian Weigel (photography)
2012
1st prize: Philip Poppek (photography)
2nd prize: Martin Peter (Fine Arts)
3rd prize: Katharina Siegel (painting/graphics)
2011
1st prize: Martin Groß (painting/graphics)
2nd prize: Kalinka Gieseler (Photography)
3rd prize: Almut Hilf (photography) & Reymund Schröder (book art/graphic design)
Become a member of the Friends of the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig and support the HGB in promoting young artists and graphic designers and in improving study conditions.
Membership of the HGB Friends enables you to
- meet young and established artists and graphic designers,
- the opportunity to actively support and promote the development of the HGB and young design and art from Leipzig,
- to further vitalise the connection to circles interested in art and design,
- to support numerous projects of the art academy as well as the renowned study prize of the Circle of Friends and Sparkasse Leipzig.
As a member of the HGB Friends you receive
- an exclusive subscription right for editions from the HGB
- invitations to exclusive tours and introductions to the HGB's most important exhibitions with Rector Thomas Locher, artist talks and studio visits with HGB artists,
- a donation receipt for your membership fee and any other donations in cash or in kind.
Membership fees (annual)
25 EUR for students
100 EUR for other natural persons
200 EUR for organisations, associations, corporations
500 EUR for companies
The HGB Friends supports artistic and creative projects by students of the HGB, Projects that are not graduate projects (for diploma or master's degree programmes). Applications for project funding can be submitted at any time.
The following documents must be submitted:
- Project description (maximum two pages!),
- calculation (this should also include details of other funding applications, e.g. to the student council, foundations, etc.) and
- details of the person or group of people who would like to carry out the project.
When realising the project, reference must also be made to the donation from the Freundeskreis. After realisation, please send a suitable photo of the project for publication within the circle of friends to freunde@hgb-leipzig.de.
The scholarship for participation in the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts Salzburg has been awarded to students of the HGB by the Freundeskreis der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig e.V. since 2014. It is a residence and travel scholarship that covers the course fee for the four-week participation in the Summer Academy, among other things. Renowned artists, curators and critics from all over the world will address current issues in visual art production.
