Awards
DZG Science Award – Karl Ritter von Frisch Medal
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The German Zoological Society honors the life’s work of Nobel Prize winner and member of the Pour le Mérite Prof. Dr. Karl Ritter von Frisch. With this scientific award, the DZG aims to honor outstanding and original achievements, in particular, work that represents an integration of knowledge from several individual biological disciplines. |
| The science prize consists of a medal and prize money of € 5,000. The prize is awarded every two years. The prize money is sponsored by BMC and Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin, Heidelberg. |
The German Zoological Society awarded its science prize, the Karl Ritter von Frisch Medal, last time at its 116th annual conference in 2024.
Awardee in 2024 was Prof. Dr. Katrin Böhning-Gaese, Leipzig.
The award ceremony took place on September 11, 2024
as part of the 116th DZG conference in Stuttgart.
Details of her scientific work you can find here … (in German)
The German Zoological Society will award its science prize, the Karl Ritter von Frisch Medal next time in 2026. Candidates for the Science Award can be nominated by all members of the DZG. The deadline for submitting proposals is scheduled for autumn 2025. The call for nominations with the exact date will be announced in time.
Walther Arndt Prize
With the research prize, the German Zoological Society commemoralizes the upright and courageous Berlin Zoologist Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Walther Arndt, who, after a rich and productive career, was sentenced to death by the Nazi judiciary in the last year of the war for open, critical statements. He was executed on June 26, 1944 at the age of 53. The prize is intended to commemorate both the political courage and the scientific achievements of Walther Arndt.
The Walther Arndt Research Prize is awarded for an outstanding scientific work on a Zoological topic. Applicants should be shortly before or after their habilitation or show comparable achievements. Preference will be given to works that are able to place the original results, regardless of the zoological subfield, in a larger biological context.
The prize money is € 5,000 and is awarded every two years at the respective annual meeting of the society.
This year’s Walther-Arndt-Research-Awardee is
Dr. Anna Stöckl, University of Konstanz
The award ceremony will take place on September 11, 2025 during the 117th DZG conference in Berlin.
Information on her scientific achievements you can find here … (in German)
All prize winners are listed here:
| Vergabe | Preisträger*in | Thematik | Zoologieheft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Frau Dr. Anna Stöckl (Konstanz) | Neuroethologie | |
| 2023 | Frau Dr. Sophie Armitage (Münster) | Determinanten pathogener Virulenz aus der Perspective der Evolution | 2024 |
| 2021 | Frau Dr. Linda Weiss (Bochum) | Neuronale und zelluläre Grundlagen der räuberinduzierten phänotypischen Plastizität | 2022 |
| 2019 | Herr PD Dr. Nico Posnien (Göttingen) | Evolutionäre Entwicklungsbiologie | 2020 |
| 2017 | keine Vergabe | ||
| 2015 | Frau Dr. Mjriam Knörnschild (Ulm) | Vokalisation und Lernen bei Fledermäusen | 2016 |
| 2013 | Frau Dr. Sylvia Cremer (Klosterneuburg, Austria) | Soziale Immunität bei Ameisen | 2014 |
| 2011 | Herr Dr. Walter Salzburger (Basel, Schweiz) | Explosive Artbildung und adaptive Radiation | 2012 |
| 2009 | Frau Dr. Barbara Helm (Andechs) | Ornithologie, Chronobiologie und quantitative Genetik | 2010 |
| 2007 | Herr Dr. Oliver Krueger (Cambridge, UK) | Life history Strategien von Raubvögeln | 2008 |
| 2005 | Frau PD Dr. Angelika Stollewerk (Cambridge, UK) | Neurogenese bei basalen Arthropoden | 2006 |
| 2003 | Herr PD Dr. Martin Göpfert (Bristol, UK) | Biophysikalische, molekulare und neurobiologische Mechanismen der peripheren Schallverarbeitung in Insekten-Hörorganen | 2004 |
| 2001 | keine Vergabe | ||
| 1999 | Herr PD Dr. Michael Brand (Heidelberg) | Genetische und molekulare Mechanismen der Entwicklung des peripheren und zentralen Nervensystems | 2000 |
| 1997 | Herr PD Dr. K.-H. Tomaschko (Ulm) | Ecdysteroide in Pantopoden: Hormone als interspezifische Botenstoffe | 1998 |
| 1995 | Herr PD Dr. Berthold Hedwig (Göttingen / Cambridge) | Neuronale Grundlagen der Lautverarbeitung und Lauterzeugung von Feldheuschrecken | 1996 |
| 1993 | Herr PD Reinhard Blickhan (Saarbrücken) | Biomechanik der axialen aquatischen und pedalen terrestrischen Lokomation von Arthropoden, Fischen, Vögeln und Säugetieren | 1994 |
| 1991 | Herr PD Dr. Rüdiger Paul (München / Düsseldorf) | System- und stoffwechselphysiologische Untersuchungen über das Atmungs- und Kreislaufsystem von Spinnentieren | 1992 |
The next call for applications is for 2027, deadline is 15.12.2026.
Please find the statutes here (in German)
Horst Wiehe Prize by the DZG
The Horst Wiehe Prize (Förderpreis der Horst-Wiehe-Stiftung) is being awarded for an outstanding scientific dissertation on an exclusively zoological topic. It is awarded to young scientists after their doctorate in order to promote early career scientists.
The prize is endowed with € 2000 and is awarded every two years at the respective DZG annual conference.
This year’s awardee of the Horst-Wiehe prize is
Dr. Jan Kreider, University Groningen
The award ceremony will take place on September 11, 2025 during the 117th DZG conference in Berlin.
Information on his scientific achievements you will find here … (in German)
Founder
Horst Wiehe from Braunschweig, Germany, donated a sum of 50.000 DM to the DZG from which the “Förderpreis der Horst-Wiehe-Stiftung” is being awarded. The board of the DZG accepted the foundation in 1989 for which Horst Wiehe set the statutes (in German).
A summary of all prize winners since 1991 you can find here:
| Vergabe | Preisträger*in | Titel der Dissertation |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Herr Dr. Jan Kreider (Universität Groningen) | "Phenotypic plasticity and social evolution" |
| 2023 | Frau Dr. Stephanie Reher (Universität Hamburg) | "Coping with environmental change: the importance of intraspecific physiological flexibility for Malagasy bats" |
| 2021 | Frau Dr. Fabrizia Ronco (Universität Basel, CH) | “Diversity, disparity and the temporal dynamics of eco-morphological adaptation in the cichlid radiation of Lake Tanganyika” |
| 2019 | Frau Dr. Manon Schweinfurth (University of St. Andrews, UK) | "Whom to help, how and why? Reciprocal trading among Norway rat" |
| 2017 | Herr Dr. Markus Lambertz (Universität Bonn) | "Beiträge zur Kenntnis der funktionellen und evolutionären Morphologie des Atemapparates der Amnioten" |
| 2015 | Herr Dr. Alexander Blanke (Universität Hull, UK) | "The Palaeoptera problem and the evolution of head structures of Dicondylia (Insecta)" |
| 2013 | Herr Dr. Jan Clemens (Princeton University, USA) | "Neural computation in small sensory systems - Lessons on sparse and adaptive coding." |
| 2011 | Herr Dr. Joachim Haug (Universität Ulm) | "Arthropod Ontogeny - Fossil Record of Development and 4-Dimensional Data (Morphological Changes during Ontogeny) in Phylogenetic Systematics" |
| 2009 | Frau Dr. Sandra Steiger (Universität Freiburg) | "Recognition cues in the biparental burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides: Chemical analysis and behavioural investigations" |
| 2007 | Herr Dr. Lutz Fromhage (Universität Hamburg / Bristol) | "Sexual cannibalism and sexual conflict in orb web spiders (Araneoidea) |
| 2005 | Herr Dr. Martin Fanenbruck (Universität Bochum) | "Die Anatomie des Kopfes und des cephalen Skelett- Muskelsystems der Crustacea, Myriapoda und Hexapoda: Ein Beitrag zum phylogenetischen System der Mandibulata und zur Kenntnis der Herkunft der Remipedia und Tracheata" |
| 2003 | Herr Dr. Wolfgang Forstmeier (Universität Würzburg) | "Individual reproductive strategies in the dusky warbler (Phylloscopus fuscatus): female and male perspective" |
| 2001 | Herr Dr. Klaus Fischer (Universität Bayreuth) | "Life-History-Plastizität in den Lebenszyklen der Feuerfalter Lycaena hippothoe und Lycaena tityrus". |
| 1999 | Frau Dr. Sylvia Ortmann (Universität Marburg) | "Strategien der saisonalen Anpassung beim Alpenmurmeltier (Marmota marmota L.)". |
| 1997 | Herr Dr. Erhard Strohm (Universität Würzburg) | "Allokation elterlicher Investition beim Europäischen Bienenwolf Philanthus triangulum Fabricius (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae)" |
| 1995 | Herr Dr. Thomas Lubjuhn (Universität Bonn) | "Soziobiologische Aspekte im Fortpflanzungsverhalten der Kohlmeise (Parus major)" |
| 1993 | Frau Dr. Heike Hadrys (Universität Braunschweig / Yale) | "Vergleichende Freilanduntersuchungen und molekulargenetische Analysen zur Intrasexuellen Männchenkonkurrenz an ausgewählten Libellenarten" |
| 1991 | Herr Dr. Henning Schneider (Universität Konstanz / Harvard) | "Untersuchung zur funktionellen Differenzierung von Motorneuronen bei Heuschrecken" |
The next call for applications is for 2027; the closing date is 15.12.2026.
Werner Rathmayer Prize
Special prize for an original work in zoology in the Jugend forscht competition that takes palce every year. The prize is named after former DZG President Werner Rathmayer, who was heavily involved in Jugend Forscht as a juror in the biology section. The DZG Board sponsors the prize since 2004.
It is endowed with 500 € and an invitation to the DZG annual conference
This year´s awardee is
Dominik Mayer (16), Olching
(Gymnasium Olching)
A list of all awardees (in preparation)
DZG – Master prizes
Prizes for the best Master’s theses with a zoological focus
The DZG Executive Board awards annual prizes for Master’s graduates from universities in the DZG’s catchment area. This supplements the previous series of DZG prizes (Horst Wiehe Prize, Walther Arndt Prize) with a prize for a broader target group.
The prize is to be awarded decentrally at the universities for the best Master’s thesis with a zoological focus. A jury of the respective university will decide on the eligibility for the prize. Universities (represented by a university lecturer who is a DZG member) can apply to the DZG Executive Board to take part in the DZG Master’s Prize. Contact the DZG office (dzg@bio.lmu.de).
The winner receives a certificate of the award from the German Zoological Society and prize money of €100.
The prizes will be awarded at a celebratory event at the respective universities.
more information coming soon