The television report "The Economy Under Stress – A Year with SMEs" by Klaus Scherer won the IHK Prize for Business Journalism "Ernst Schneider" in the Video category. The ARD documentary exemplarily highlights the concerns and optimism of SMEs, the backbone of Germany’s economy.

Other award winners in 2026 include Sandra Pfister (Deutschlandfunk) with the podcast "Crash Course – Economy Meets History", Wolfgang Würth (Der neue Tag) for a feature about the Upper Palatinate company Ziegler, and Felix Holtermann and Thomas Jahn of Handelsblatt for their excellently researched text about the US software company Palantir.

The starter prize for young journalists was awarded to Nicolas Killian (Die Zeit), who has been reporting from Silicon Valley for two years. The special award went to Mary Abdelaziz-Ditzow. The journalist and book author founded and leads the economic editorial team of the platform "Finanzfluss", where she produces her daily podcast "Im Loop".

The award winners were honoured at the Frankfurter Hof in the city of Mainz in front of an audience of more than 300 guests from business, media, and politics. The awards gala was organised by the IHK Rheinhessen and the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK).

The IHK Prize for Business Journalism, with a total prize money of €52,000, is funded by the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (IHKs). It has been awarded since 1971 and is the largest business journalism prize in Germany.

The full list of award winners, along with further information and links to their contributions, can be found on the DIHK website.

The 2026 Award Winners

Video: Klaus Scherer: The Economy Under Stress: A Year with SMEs, ARD Story, NDR (Editor: Ben Bolz) and HR (Editor: Julia Klüssendorf), 14 November 2025.

Audio: Sandra Pfister: Crash Course – Economy Meets History, podcast series, Deutschlandfunk, 2025.

Starter Prize: Nicolas Killian, Die Zeit

Plain Speech Regional: Wolfgang Würth: Ziegler: Rise and Fall, in: Der neue Tag (Oberpfalz Medien), 22 November 2025.

Plain Speech National: Felix Holtermann and Thomas Jahn: Data as a Weapon: Insights into the Secrets of Palantir, in: Handelsblatt, 23 November 2025.

Special Prize: Mary Abdelaziz-Ditzow, Editor-in-Chief, Finanzfluss