Open Call for Friedrich Becker Prize 2026

Professor Friedrich Becker (1922–1997) is an internationally renowned goldsmith, designer of kinetic objects, and one of the most influential artists in jewelry design in the second half of the 20th century. His works have been exhibited and collected worldwide, receiving international awards. The Gesellschaft für Goldschmiedekunst e.V. (Society for Goldsmithing) commemorates him through the Friedrich Becker Prize, donated by Hildegard Becker (1928–2018), recalling his personality and works. In keeping with his spirit, the prize honors the next generation of outstanding designers of jewelry, utensils and objects.
 
The Friedrich Becker Prize is endowed with €10,000 and has been awarded every three years since 1999 by the Society for Goldsmithing for outstanding, independent design of the highest quality. Previous winners of the Friedrich Becker Prize include Rudolf Bott (1999), Anette Walz (2002), Peter Bauhuis (2005), Robert Baines (2008), Alexander Vohswinkel (2011) Sam Tho Duong (2014), Michael Becker (2017), Junwon Jung (2020) and Norman Weber (2023). To mark the 10th award ceremony, a bilingual catalogue (German/English) will be published by arnoldsche Art Publishers.

Conditions of participation
Jewelry makers, gold and silversmiths, and designers from Germany and abroad are eligible to participate. Works in the fields of jewelry and hollow/flatware may be submitted. Precious and non-precious materials are equally welcome, as are innovative approaches to technology and design. Each person may submit one work. The work must have been created within the last three years.
 
The maximum insurance value (material value and working time) of the work may not exceed 20,000€. The organizer's insurance coverage begins upon arrival of the work, and ends when the shipment is returned to the participant. In the event of damage, only the cost of materials and working time will be reimbursed. The submitted work must be able to withstand repeated packing and unpacking.


The participation fee is 60 €. Participants will only be admitted to the judging process if the participation fee has been paid in advance.
The participation fee must be transferred to the following account:
Account: Gesellschaft für Goldschmiedekunst e.V., Sparkasse Hanau.
IBAN DE77 5065 0023 0000 0565 80, Swift-BIC: HELADEF1HAN.
PayPal: paypal@gfg-hanau.de

Jury
Melanie Isverding: Professor of Metal Design and Jewelry/Body-Related Objects, Germany
Dr. Christianne Weber-Stöber: Art historian, Germany
Paul Derrez: Jewelry artist, Netherlands
The jury's decision is final. Legal recourse is excluded.
 
Competition procedure
Registration takes place at www.goldschmiedehaus.com with the registration form. The selection of works (prize winners and exhibition participants) will take place in two jury sessions: 

1.    Photo-jury
The following must be submitted by December 31st, 2025:
•    Completed registration form.
•    Short biography, chronologically in bullet points (education/training, career milestones, awards. MS Word or PDF).
•    Optional text about the object (max. 800 characters including spaces, Word or PDF).
•    Printable digital image data of the work via email (JPEG or TIFF files for each image with the shortest side having a dimension of 2500 pixels with a resolution of at least 300dpi, photo credit).
•    The photo should be taken in front of a neutral background.
 
After the photo-jury has made its selection, the chosen participants will be notified and asked to submit their work.

2.    Object-jury
•    Entries must arrive at the German Goldsmiths' House in Hanau by February 12th, 2026 at the latest.

Entries from Germany/EU countries: Entries must be sent self-paid, together with a copy of the registration form, to the German Goldsmiths' House in Hanau, Altstädter Markt 6, D-63450 Hanau, free of charge.
Submissions from non-EU countries: The shipment must be sent self-paid to the Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus Hanau, Altstädter Markt 6, D-63450 Hanau. Detailed information about the process will be provided after registration.

Award ceremony
The award ceremony will take place on May 9th, 2026 in Düsseldorf. The works selected by the jury will be shown in exhibitions in Düsseldorf and Hanau.


For further information, please contact:
Gesellschaft für Goldschmiedekunst
Altstädter Markt 6; D-63450 Hanau, Germany
E-Mail: friedrichbeckerpreis@gfg-hanau.de
www.goldschmiedehaus.com