The decision to award the culture prize is made by a jury. The award is endowed with prize money of 2,500 euros, which is sponsored by Kreissparkasse Birkenfeld.
The guidelines for awarding the sponsorship prize were modified by the city council in some respects this year. The decision on the awarding of the prize was transferred from the Culture Committee to a jury. The jury consists of the Lord Mayor, the members of the Culture Committee, one representative of each of the Culture Prize winners of the last three years and one representative of the sponsor. The nominees for the Culture Prize are presented in public, but the jury does not meet in public.
The nominees for the 2024 Arts and Culture Award are
- Lukas Baeskow: The actor and singer studied musical theater at AMDA in New York City and now works on stages all over Germany.
- Gemstone and jewelry culture Oberstein: The relatively young association has been organizing the gemstone cutter and goldsmith market since 2023.
- Gospel & Pop Choir Idar-Oberstein: The choir was founded in 2008 with the idea of breaking away from traditional choral music and exploring new avenues; as the name suggests, its repertoire mainly comprises gospel and pop music.
- Rainer Hagner: The ambitious amateur runner and skater has been collecting donations for the municipal children's aid fund with his Hagner marathon team for 20 years and has been organizing the Idar-Oberstein Felsenkirche stair run since 2015.
- Dieter Jerusalem: Over the past 50 years, the master lapidary has created an extensive private archive to preserve the history of the gemstone and costume jewelry trade.
- Musikverein Tiefenstein: The association, which has been in existence for 145 years, has a youth orchestra and an orchestra of the generations, which is characterized by the great variety and range of its musical repertoire.
- Maria and Maxim Schukov: The couple run several music schools, and both have directed and continue to direct a large number of choirs and ensembles in the city and district.
- Marion Mikk Schunke: The artist gives singing and guitar lessons and appears as a musician and performance artist.
- Speedbottles: The five band members describe their music as dirty rock'n'roll, based on the rock'n'roll of the 1960s and 70s, mixed with their own elements and a large portion of defiance.
- More detailed information on the nominees can be found on the city's website at www.idar-oberstein.de/kulturpreis.