Prof. Horst Knapp Prize 2021 awarded to Gerhard Hofer
- Gerhard Hofer (52) has been head of the business editorial department of the daily newspaper "Die Presse" since 2013
- The Prof. Horst Knapp Prize, which honors outstanding achievements in Austrian business journalism, is already being awarded for the 26th time
This year's Prof. Horst Knapp Prize, which commemorates the doyen of Austrian business journalism who passed away in 1996, goes to Gerhard Hofer, head of the business editorial department of the daily newspaper "Die Presse".
Robert Zadrazil, CEO of UniCredit Bank Austria, on the award winner: "Gerhard Hofer has been shaping the business pages of ‘Die Presse’ for many years with his calm and objective manner. In addition to actuality, he focuses on explanation, on disclosing background information and on the future topics of the economy. Over the years, Hofer's good leadership has also enabled him not only to manage the generational change in the business editorial team at ‘Die Presse’, but also to continue to ensure the high quality of business reporting in this newspaper."
In his citation, jury chairman Univ.-Prof. Ewald Nowotny, the former Governor of the Austrian Central Bank, emphasized: "Gerhard Hofer is a long-standing and professionally accomplished business journalist who knows how to present complex economic issues in a clear and easy-to-understand manner. His approach to stories is open, and his commentaries and editorials often question the mainstream and provide new foundations that enable readers to form their own opinions."
The festive award ceremony took place on Tuesday evening at the Bank Austria Kunstforum, the laudation was held by the jury chairman Univ.-Prof. Ewald Nowotny. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Markus Hengstschläger, the head of the Institute of Medical Genetics at the Medical University of Vienna, was the keynote speaker. He spoke about the intersection of science and the media and the question of how to act in times of growing skepticism about science in order to counteract the increasing erosion of people's participation in society.
About the 2021 award winner
Gerhard Hofer, a native of Lower Austria, has been working for the daily newspaper "Die Presse" since the summer of 1992. After seven years in the chronicle department, he moved to the business editorial department, where he was instructed not to deliver business journalism of the "sales rose from x to y'" variety. A credo that Hofer still takes to heart today. Since the beginning of 2013, he and Hanna Kordik have been joint heads of the Economist, the business section of the daily newspaper "Die Presse", where they have assembled an exciting, committed team of young journalists who, in addition to the classic topics of economics and the financial market, are also increasingly covering the topics of ecology, climate change and sustainability. In his private life, the father of two enjoys discussions with his sons, where he observes that topics such as Bitcoin and Elon Musk - no matter what one thinks of them - have the potential to get young people excited about economics.
The Prof. Horst Knapp Prize has been funded annually by UniCredit Bank Austria since 1996.
The Prof. Horst Knapp Award honors outstanding achievements in Austrian business journalism which present complex economic and sociopolitical issues in a particularly clear and comprehensible manner. An independent jury awards the prize, which is funded by UniCredit Bank Austria, in memory of Prof. Horst Knapp, the doyen of Austrian business journalism who passed away in 1996.
The jury is chaired by Univ.-Prof. Ewald Nowotny, former Governor of the Austrian Central Bank. The jury also includes the following members: Karl Aiginger, Director of the Policy Crossover Center: Vienna - Europe; Michael Csoklich, freelance journalist; Martin Halama, Head of Corporate Communications at UniCredit Bank Austria; Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger, Rector of the Vienna University of Economics and Business; Andrea Helige, PR consultant; Veit Sorger, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of MONDI AG; Josef Zechner, Professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and - as last year's prize winner - Prof. Paul Lendvai, publicist, and Kamil Kowalcze, business editor at "Die Presse".
Enquiries:
UniCredit Bank Austria Media Relations
Matthias Raftl, Tel. +43 (0) 50505-52809
E-mail: matthias.raftl@unicreditgroup.at
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