These Schools Have Made it to the Finals

The excitement is building: a jury of around 50 members from the fields of education, school practice, and education administration has selected 15 schools for the final round of the prestigious German School Award 2025. The finalists come from almost every part of Germany—from Baden-Württemberg to Thuringia—as well as from Tbilisi in Georgia. They can now all hope to win one of the coveted awards.
The award ceremony with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will take place on September 30, 2025, in Berlin. The main prize is endowed with 100,000 euros, and five additional prizes are worth 30,000 euros each. All other finalists will receive recognition awards of 5,000 euros. The event will be broadcast live.

This year, for the first time, a special prize for democracy education will also be awarded. Applicants were able to apply for this prize independently of the main competition. A separate expert jury selected ten schools for in-depth interviews and nominated five schools that demonstrate a special commitment to democratic values, participation, and responsibility in everyday school life—both in the classroom and in the school community.
 

The path to get there was challenging: from over 100 applications, the jury first selected 20 schools, which were then visited and evaluated by jury teams. Based on these visits, the 15 finalists were finally determined. A separate selection process with in-depth interviews was held for the “Democracy Education” thematic award.

The concepts of the winning schools will then be prepared and made available to all interested schools through training courses, publications, and the German School Portal's online platform. All applicant schools also have the opportunity to work intensively on their own teaching development for 15 months in the German School Award forum. Offers such as the observation program are aimed at all teachers in Germany and enable them to observe lessons at the winning schools. It's a cycle that reinforces and spreads good school practices.