2010 Prof. Horst Knapp Prize awarded to Michael Bachner
Michael Bachner, head of the business editorial division of daily newspaper “Kurier”, was awarded the renowned Prof. Horst Knapp Prize for his journalistic achievements in the course of an awards ceremony at Bank Austria on Wednesday evening.
At the awarding of the prize, Willibald Cernko, Chairman of the Management Board of Bank Austria, said, “Managing the business editorial team of a daily newspaper in a calm way in spite of high time pressure, offering a balanced mix of topics and, furthermore, writing profound commentaries: A person who is able to achieve that in a quality addressing also a wider range of readers really merits an award like the Prof. Horst Knapp Prize, as it only appears to be a matter of course that many journalists repeatedly manage to combine high circulation and quality.”
The Prof. Horst Knapp Prize has been sponsored annually by Bank Austria since 1996 and is awarded to journalists by an independent jury in memory of the long-standing doyen of Austrian economic journalism. The award is for EUR6,000. The jury is chaired by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ewald Nowotny, Governor of the Austrian central bank. The Prof. Horst Knapp Prize recognizes outstanding journalistic achievements that present complex economic issues in a particularly clear, comprehensible manner.
Michael Bachner (39), born in Mödling, studied business at the Vienna University of Economics. Following his studies, he worked as a business editor at “Kurier” from 1995 to 2000. In 2000/2001, he helped to develop business reporting for Vienna at the “Kleine Zeitung”. In 2001, he joined daily newspaper “Der Standard”, where he mainly dealt with economic topics for five years and with domestic politics for one year. As an additional job, he worked as a freelancer for Zurich-based “Tagesanzeiger” in Vienna. In 2007, Mr Bachner returned to the “Kurier”, initially holding the position of deputy head of the editorial department for business, and being head of the department since autumn 2009. His specialist fields are national and international economic, finance and social politics.
Prominent jury recognizes outstanding achievements in economic journalism
The renowned members of the independent jury include Karl Aiginger, head of the Austrian Institute for Economic Research; Margarete Freisinger, a freelance journalist; Martin Halama, corporate spokesman for Bank Austria; Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger, professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business; Andrea Helige, a public relations consultant; Veit Sorger, president of the Federation of Austrian Industries; Josef Zechner, professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, and the winners of last year’s prize, “Der Standard” journalist Luise Ungerboeck and “Die Presse” editorial department head Franz Schellhorn.
The following journalists have been awarded the Prof. Horst Knapp Prize in the past: Reinhard Göweil and Waltraud Langer (1996), Georg Wailand (1997) and Regina Forster (sponsorship award 1997), Michael Hann (1998), Liselotte Palme (1999), Andreas Schnauder (2000), Walter Sonnleitner (2001), Margarete Freisinger (2002), Richard Wiens (2003), Christine Domforth (2004), Michael Csoklich and Eva Pfisterer (2005), Renate Graber (2006), Helmut Gansterer (2007) and Michael Nikbakhsh (2008) as well as Luise Ungerboeck and Franz Schellhorn (2009).
Enquiries: Bank Austria Press Office Austria
Matthias Fauner, Tel. +43 (0)5 05 05 - 56137
E-mail: matthias.fauner@unicreditgroup.at
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