Baden-Baden - The Digitales Wörterbuch DGS (DW-DGS), the science journalist Dr. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim, and the German grammar school in Tallinn will be awarded the German Language Culture Award 2023 (Kulturpreis Deutsche Sprache 2023). The digital dictionary of German Sign Language ‘Digitales Wörterbuch DGS’ will receive the institutional award for its comprehensive documentation of and research on German Sign Language. The award ceremony will take place on September 30^th in Baden-Baden.

Representing the everyday language use of deaf people

"We were particularly impressed by the nuanced and vivid presentation and analysis of numerous signs and their meanings," said Prof. Dr. Wolf Peter Klein, speaker of the award’s jury. The project “Digitales Wörterbuch Deutsche Gebärdensprache (DW-DGS)” (Digital Dictionary of German Sign Language (DW-DGS)) is located at the Academy of Sciences in Hamburg, at the Institute for German Sign Language and Communication of the Deaf at the University of Hamburg. It is dedicated to the documentation of and research on German Sign Language and collects sign language texts produced by deaf people and makes them available to the public. Based on this representative data, a digital dictionary is being created that reflects the everyday language of deaf people. This includes the representation of regional variation throughout Germany. The jury noted that the dictionary builds a bridge between DGS and the German language and makes it accessible to everyone.

The institutional award, which does not carry prize money, goes to institutions that have provided outstanding services to the German language.

Main Award and Initiative Award

The main award, which comes with 30,000 euros of prize money, goes to Dr. Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim. The doctor of chemistry and science journalist is best known for her YouTube channel "maiLab" and popular science books. The initiative award goes to the German grammar school in Tallinn.

The German Language Cultural Prize has been awarded annually by the Eberhard Schöck Foundation since 2001 and is awarded in cooperation with the German Academy for Language and Poetry for the first time in 2023. The main award has previously been awarded to well-known german personalities such as Udo Lindenberg, Cornelia Funke, Loriot, Ulrich Tukur and the Fantastischen Vier.

Further information about the German Language Cultural Prize can be found here. (German only)
The Digital Dictionary of German Sign Language (DW-DGS) can be found here. (German only)