There is a large pool of blood in the hallway of the terraced house, a cut telephone cable and in the kitchen a dead 86-year-old woman with a laceration. Her head is unnaturally stretched, her left arm is pointing backwards, her handbag and wallet are empty. Emergency doctors and paramedics immediately suspect a violent crime – the responsible police in Aalen do not, they believe it was an accident. The investigation into the death of Edith Lang on December 14, 2022 in Schwäbisch Hall, Baden-Württemberg, will be closed that night and she will be cremated.
Weeks later, a serial offender is caught who has robbed and killed at least two more elderly women. But the public never hears about it. Only after months of research by reporter Thumilan Selvakumaran from the Southwest Press everything comes to light; the police chief has to apologize publicly, the relatives get certainty. Selvakumaran even used luminol at the crime scene, a substance that can make wiped-away blood visible.
Representing his texts on the “widow murders of Schwäbisch Hall”, his article “Officials flying blind” on Wednesday evening in Hamburg with one of Germany’s most prestigious journalism awards, the “starPrize” in the “Local Reportage” category. The jury praised the “investigative, committed and courageous research into the death of Edith Lang”. Thumilan Selvakumaran said on stage that he had “great respect for the police”. However, in Schwäbisch Hall he had encountered investigators “who preferred to close the files, even when it was becoming increasingly clear that it was a murder case”.
460 submissions for five categories
The prize, which was called the “Nannen Prize” for many years, is highly sought after in the industry: this year there were 460 submissions from 100 media houses in the five categories, said the chairman of the star-Editor-in-chief, Gregor Peter Schmitz. An independent 48-member jury decides on the award, there is no prize money. The magazine star is now part of RTL GermanyThe award winners receive an unwieldy trophy and, for the first time this year, an awards ceremony with a purely vegetarian dinner – but from now on they belong to the exclusive circle of award winners whose names quickly spread in the media houses. star-Prize can accelerate careers, it is a valuable currency in an industry that is lacking money everywhere.
The “Story of the Year” award went to a piece of research that triggered a government crisis in Bavaria in 2023: The Süddeutsche Zeitungg received the star-Prize for the much-discussed and controversial research into the leaflet affair surrounding Free Voters leader Hubert Aiwanger. Shortly before the Bavarian election in 2023, Katja Auer, Klaus Ott, Sebastian Beck and Andreas Glas revealed that an anti-Semitic leaflet had been found in Bavaria’s deputy prime minister’s possession during his school days. Aiwanger’s brother later stated that he had been the author.
Exclusive
:Aiwanger is said to have written anti-Semitic leaflets as a student
Bavaria’s deputy prime minister apparently spread right-wing extremist ideas in his youth. This is suggested by a document that has now surfaced. The head of the Free Voters denies having produced such a thing and speaks of a “smear campaign”.
The starPrize jury said that this research in particular “had a passionate debate and argument”, but that it represented “outstanding Journalism that sparks debate and exposes what powerful politicians would rather remain silent about.”
Mirror-Reporter Timofey Neshitov received the “Egon Erwin Kisch Prize” for his research “The perfect witness” about the Holocaust survivor Eva Umlauf. The report was named “Photo Story of the Year” “Trench warfare” by Johanna-Maria Fritz about soldiers in Ukraine, she is in the Time The category “Investigation” went to the journalists Jochen Breyer and Julia Friedrichs for their ZDF-Movie “The secret world of the super-rich – the billion dollar game”.