German Prize for Cancer Prevention Research

The German Prize for Cancer Prevention Research is divided into two parts. 

• Firstly, a prize of €25,000 is awarded to established, outstanding scientists who have made a long-standing and groundbreaking contribution to cancer prevention research.

• Secondly, an Early-Career Award of €5,000 honors young, talented researchers (within ten years of active research after completing a PhD) for their current scientific work in cancer prevention research.

The prize money will be provided to the award winners, earmarked to enable them to continue their scientific activities.

The selection criteria are the outstanding scientific originality and quality of the research work and the potential of the nominees in the fields of primary, secondary, and tertiary cancer prevention. Proposals nominating female researchers as candidates are particularly welcome.

The prizes will be awarded based on nominations by third parties. Self-nominations are excluded. Researchers affiliated with universities and non-university (research) institutes in Germany are eligible for nomination.

The following organizations may nominate candidates: 

• the German Cancer Society, 

• German Cancer Aid, 

• the Fraunhofer Society, 

• the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers, 

• the Max Planck Society, 

• the German Medical Faculty Association, 

• the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and 

• the Leibniz Association.

Those organizations entitled to nominate can submit up to three nominations each for the Established Scientist Award and the Early-Career Award. It is also possible to repeat previous proposals.

The selection of the awardees is made by an international scientific committee. The committee’s decision is final and not subject to legal appeal.

This year's selection process is now complete. The winners will be announced on this website shortly.

Both the Established Scientist Award and the Early-Career Award are sponsored by the Manfred Lautenschläger-Stiftung gGmbH and presented by the DKFZ. This year's award ceremony will take place during the 4th German Cancer Research Congress on May 26, 2025, at the DKFZ in Heidelberg.