Margrit Sprecher is to receive the Reinhardt von Graffenried Lifetime Achievement Award. The rap musician La Gale from Lausanne composes the Swiss Press Song 16.

05.02.2016

Margrit Sprecher / Bild Fabian Biasio

Margrit Sprecher was born in Chur in 1936. After studying journalism and theatre in Munich and Vienna, she built up and ran the section “Life Today” (Leben Heute) in the Weltwoche until the year 2000. Her numerous journalistic pieces have had a significant impact on the world of German-language journalism. Her books “Living and Dying on Death Row” (Leben und Sterben im Todestrakt) and “Unsolicited Visits” (Ungebetene Besuche) generated a great deal of acclaim.

The grande dame of Swiss Journalism lives in Zurich and has already received numerous plaudits for her work: the 1985 International Journalism Prize Klagenfurt (Internationaler Publizistik Preis Klagenfurt), the 1992 Egon-Erwin-Kisch-Prize Hamburg, the 2003 Zurich Journalism Prize (Zürcher Journalisten Preis), and the 2008 Grisons Award for Literature. She is the first female journalist to receive this award of CHF 20’000 from the Reinhardt von Graffenried Foundation. In 2011 and 2012 photographers René Burri and Robert Frank received the award for their life’s work; in 2013 and 2014 it was the journalists Arnold Hottinger and François Gross.

Photo Magalie Girardin, Le Tribune de Genève

The award ceremony, which will also include the presentation of the Swiss awards for local journalism and the Swiss Press Photo Awards, will take place in the presence of Federal Councillor Simonetta Somaruga at the Hotel Bellevue Palace in Berne. Swiss Music Award nominee La Gale, a young rap musician from Lausanne, will compose and premiere the Swiss Press Song 16. After Polo Hofer’s song “Schurniblues” last year, this will be the second of the Swiss Press Songs, which are specifically commissioned for Swiss journalists.

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