The Hermann Lenz Prize has been awarded each year since 1999 in memory of the eponymous author. It is the successor to the Petrarca Prize founded by Hubert Burda and which ran from 1975 through to 1995. In 1987, the Petrarca Prize was won by none other than Hermann Lenz himself and he fostered close ties with the prize for many years.

Each year, young poets and authors are invited to attend a congress at which they can exchange views with literary translators and a host of other German-language authors. The award ceremony also provides the ideal opportunity to announce the winners of the Hermann Lenz scholarship, set up by Hermann and Hanne Lenz and intended for young scholars of German language and literature.

The Hubert Burda Prize for new eastern European literature makes heard the voices of young eastern European poets who tell the tale of their newly emerging lives. The objective of this bursary is to seek out, support, translate and promote these authors, who were hitherto all too often overlooked.

These awards strive to bring nations and peoples closer together, but not by assimilating and appropriating the unknown, rather by harnessing the living arts. Some 10,000 euro are earmarked for the winners of the bursaries and their works are translated and published.