Handelsblatt, Goldmans Sachs and the Frankfurt Book Fair are awarding the Business Book Prize this year.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf The world is in crisis. After three years of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine has been dominating the news for the second year. The role of Russia and the struggle for a new world order have been a focus of book publications in recent months.
But also the transformation of the economy, especially in view of the rapidly advancing developments in the field of artificial intelligence and the still threatening climate catastrophe, offer interesting debates. What topic is the best business book of the year devoted to?
We are looking for the successor to an author duo who had innovatively implemented findings on the future topic of AI. The AI expert Kai-Fu Lee and the science fiction author Qiufan Chen won the German Business Book Prize last year for their book “KI 2041 – Ten Visions of the Future”, published by Campus Verlag.
The call for entries for the best business book 2023 is now starting. After the pandemic years, the industry recently met again for the first time in Leipzig for the book fair.
With 274,000 visitors, there were significantly more than expected – almost as many as at the last fair before Corona in 2019. This upswing should continue in Frankfurt – especially since the book fair is celebrating an anniversary there: it took place for the first time 75 years ago .
Motto “Understanding business”
The sales figures are also optimistic. The industry has been recording positive sales figures for months. It is particularly pleasing that, according to a GfK analysis, young people between the ages of 16 and 29 spend more money on reading material – and have also bought more books per capita.
Sales in the non-fiction segment across all age groups rose by more than five percent in April compared to the same period last year. In the area of social sciences/law/economy, however, a minus of 2.3 percent was measured.
So it’s time for the Business Book Prize, which the Handelsblatt, together with the Frankfurt Book Fair and the investment bank Goldman Sachs, is awarding for the 17th time. It has the motto “Understanding the economy” and is intended to help make economic connections understandable to a broader audience.
“Last year we successfully implemented a number of innovations with the readers’ prize and the public vote in the hall,” says the chairman of the jury, Hans-Jürgen Jakobs, author and former editor-in-chief of the Handelsblatt: “And this year there should also be surprises.”
In 2022, for the first time, there was also a readers’ prize in addition to the jury prize. The winners of both prizes were only announced on the evening of the ceremony – the winners knew nothing about it.
German Business Book Prize 2023: The Jury
This made the announcement particularly exciting. Katja Diehl, winner of the first readers’ prize, came onto the stage with a real whoop of joy. 2,500 readers of the Handelsblatt had previously taken part in the vote.
From Friday, May 19, 2022, publishers in Germany, Switzerland and Austria can again submit up to three books each. All literary genres from non-fiction, biographies, company portraits, management bibles to economic thrillers are permitted. The closing date for entries is August 2nd. Proofs and manuscripts of books published up to September are also accepted.
On August 11, the Handelsblatt publishes the shortlist on the literature page and in the digital offering; From then on, the editors will present the finalists in detail up to the award ceremony.
A top-class jury of business representatives and academics decides on the awarding of the German Business Book Prize, which is to take place at a gala during the Frankfurt Book Fair. In addition, the readers will again decide on the readers’ prize.
More: All details on the conditions of participation, registration modalities and initiators of the German Business Book Prize can be found here.