Hans Stieber Prize

The Hans Stieber Prize is a promotional prize for composers of serious and light music, which is awarded by the fiduciary trust Hans Stieber Foundation of the Landesverband Sachsen-Anhalt Deutscher Komponistenverband based in Halle (Saale). The name giver and dedicatee is Hans Stieber (1886–1969), composer and founding director of the Staatliche Hochschule für Theater und Musik Halle.

It was donated after Stieber's death by his widow Gretl Stieber in 1977 from his inheritance and awarded annually until 1989 to mainly young composers of the GDR. After the Peaceful Revolution, Stieber's heirs asserted a replevin regarding the foundation's assets, which meant that the award had to be suspended for the time being.

A judgment of the Naumburg Higher Regional Court and a financial increase by the Saalesparkasse in Halle made the revival of the prize by the LVDK under the direction of Thomas Buchholz possible in 2000. The latter now offered the prize every two to four years as part of a competition for young composers as well as for musicologists publishing in the field of Neue Musik. It has since been awarded as part of the contemporary music festival Hallische Musiktage.