Application

Apply now for the Treffen junger Autor*innen 2024!

Participation in the five-day Treffen junger Autor*innen in Berlin is the prize of a Germany-wide contest for young artists.
A further 20 authors will receive a book cheque.

For young authors aged between 11 and 21 from the German Federal Republic.

Closing date for entries: 15 July 2024

Young authors wanted!

You like to write poems, plays, short stories, slam poetry or experiment with language?
Do you want to present your texts to an audience at a reading in Berlin?
Would you like to meet other young authors, exchange ideas with professionals, and try out writing workshops?

Then we look forward to receiving your application for the Treffen junger Autor*innen!

You can submit up to five pages of text or ten poems. It is also possible to submit texts in other languages or multilingual texts.
Participation in the five-day meeting of young authors in Berlin is the prize of the Germany-wide competition for young authors. The meeting of young authors offers the invited prizewinners a platform on which they can present their texts, thus creating awareness for the concerns, topics and viewpoints of young writers. At the same time, the meeting opens up a protected space in which the young artists meet, inspire each other and are encouraged to further develop their personal artistic expression through professional support from experienced authors and workshop leaders.

Learn more about the Treffen junger Autor*innen

Dates for the Treffen junger Autor*innen 2024

Start for applications 19 March 2024
Deadline for applications 15 July 2024
Announcement of the final selection 17 September 2024
Treffen junger Autor*innen 21 to 25 November 2024

Conditions of application

You can apply if you are between 11 and 21 years old.
As this is a national competition, unfortunately only applications from within the Federal Republic of Germany can be considered.
Repeat applications are possible. Authors who have already won a prize must pause their application for one year.

Selection criterias of the jury

The jury is looking for remarkable and exemplary texts by the younger generation. In order to be able to compare the submitted applications, the jury looks for certain characteristics in the texts.

These characteristics are important to the jury:

An independence and seriousness of literary writing is noticeable
The texts convey a sense of curiosity and move beyond established patterns
The texts develop their own voice and perspective, an individual language is recognisable
The authors show courage and originality
There is an urgency and weightiness to the content The texts deal with specific issues and there is a thoughtful examination of the topics
There is a flow when reading the texts
There is an interplay between form and content, a sense of structure, rhythm, narrative arc and the end of the text

Applications

Applications have to be made via our ApplicationPortal (in German only). After you registration you can provide all the necessary details for your application. You can also upload the following application material:

Text manuscripts: no longer than five text page (if necessary excerpts), for poetry max. 10 texts
Additions to texts in other languages or mixed languages: Please explain briefly what the text is about. Or maybe you have the possibility to include a rough translation (not an artistic text). Of course, we are also curious to know why you are writing in the respective language. You are also welcome to write something about it.

Please observe the following format requirements: Font size at least 10, line spacing at least 1.5 and clearly labelled footers: Title + author + page number. The texts can also be uploaded in individual files, but should not exceed a total of five text pages.

If you have any questions of problems using our new application portal, please contact us by phone under +49 30 254 89 113 or by e-mail treffenjungeszene@berlinerfestspiele.de.

Selection

A jury will read the texts and select the twenty prize-winners. The selection will be completed by September. The jury’s decision is final – there are no legal grounds for appeal.

Prize

The winners will be invited to a five-day meeting of young authors in Berlin. They will present the selected texts in a joint reading in front of an audience at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. They will also have the opportunity to take part in workshops with the authors on the jury and other experts. Discussions and editing of the submitted texts offer the prizewinners a further opportunity to engage with writing and get to know each other. Specialist discussions and further readings also open up perspectives for the future. In addition, all award-winning texts appear in the annual anthology, which is published in bookshops and which all applicants of a year receive afterwards. The public reading of the prizewinners will be recorded and will be available for one year in the BerlinerFestspiele media library.

All costs for participation in the Treffen junger Autor*innen are covered.