The Meefisch - Award for Book Illustrations

Since autumn of 2005 the "Meefisch" (dialect for: fish from the river Main), an award for book illustrations is given by the city of Marktheidenfeld. It is awarded bi-annualy, alternating with the Art Award.

Our partner in this since 2009 has been the Arena Publishing House in Würzburg. A jury gives the award to the best unpublished picture book. Then the award-winning book is published by Arena and wins a price money of 2,000 Euros.

Also here, we have a public award, chosen by the visitors of the exhibition. The price money of 500 Euros is sponsored by the Marktheidenfeld branch of Freie Wähler (a political party).

Illustrator from across Germany and the German-speaking neighbor countries may take part. Details are given in the latest award information.

The Marktheidenfeld Award for Book Illustration was initialized by Horst Martin (deceased in 2006) who was a member of the city council and devoted a lot of his time to the work in the cultural committee of the town and in the Franck-Haus committee of the History Club of Marktheidenfeld and Surroundings. The "Fischer Treasure Island" - the section for literature for children and teenagers of the publishing house Fischer - supported the first two awards in 2006 and 2007 as a cooperative partner.

Since 2009 the cooperative partner has become the Arena Publishing House in Würzburg.

With this award, the town of Marktheidenfeld wants to promote the aesthetic competence of children and teenagers, help them form a media competence and make a contribution to the promotion of the art of book illustration.

Picture books are the stepping stone for the entrance into the world of literature - that is not only the experts' opinion, this is our belief at Marktheidenfeld!

The jury consists of six representatives from the Arena publishing house, from the university of grafic design, reviewers of picture books, illustrators and grafic artists as well as representatives of the city of Marktheidenfeld.

The jury selects the winner with a simple majority from the participants of the final exhibition. The decision of the jury if final and incontestable; there is no right of appeal.


The Meefisch is partner of the Literary Foundation of Bavaria.