Price of the WChG
- supported by the Walter Kölle Foundation -
The Society of Water Chemistry Division of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) has awarded the Division Award Society of Water Chemistry at its annual WATER conference since 1971, provided that suitable candidates are nominated. The award recognises outstanding scientific achievements by early-career researchers in the field of water chemistry and is presented to individuals whose doctoral degrees were awarded no more than ten years ago. The award comprises a certificate and prize money of 3,000 euros funded by the Walter Kölle Foundation. The award is decided upon by all impartial members of the Board of the Society of Water Chemistry on the basis of external reviews.
Criteria: (1) Outreach, dissemination, and impact in water management and water chemistry (2) impactful scientific contribution to water science, (3) demonstrated independent research trajectory, (4) academic services in water chemistry in the DACH region, etc.
The honour, originally established under the name "Division Award", has been known since 2011 as the "Division Award Society of Water Chemistry - supported by the Walter Kölle Foundation".
Submission deadline: 31 October 2026
Objective
The Division Society of Water Chemistry of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) awards the Division Award Society of Water Chemistry – sponsored by the Walter Kölle Foundation. The award honours outstanding scientific achievements in the field of water chemistry and is intended for early-career scientists who have made exceptional contributions to this scientific discipline.
The award
The award comprises a certificate and prize money of 3,000 euros funded by the Walter Kölle Foundation. The award will be presented at the annual WATER 2027 Conference. The awardee will be invited to present the recognised research achievement in a scientific lecture as part of the Conference. The Division will cover the costs of attending the Conference. The decision on the award will be made by the non-conflicted members of the Division Executive Board on the basis of independent reviews.
Nomination
Persons who have achieved outstanding results in the field of water chemistry may be nominated, provided that their doctorate was awarded no more than ten years ago. Self-nominations are expressly excluded. All nominations must comprise an informal statement giving the reasons for the nomination and acknowledging the nominee’s achievements, together with the nominee’s CV (including email address).
Submission
Please send your proposal by email and combined in a single PDF file to the GDCh Office, for the attention of Maike Fries.
The Society of Water Chemistry Prize was awarded to Dr. Stephanie Spahr in Kiel on 11 May 2026 on the occasion of WASSER 2026: "in recognition of her comprehensive work on the fate of persistent, mobile and toxic substances in water bodies. Her scientific focus is on evaluating technical systems for reducing pollutants, particularly in urban stormwater runoff during heavy rainfall events. For example, she investigated the use of “biochar” as a cost-effective sorbent for removing organic micropollutants. She also demonstrated the importance of identifying the identity and reactivity of short-lived reactive intermediates during peroxydisulfate decomposition on redox-active biochar in order to optimise the treatment of stormwater runoff."
| Year | awardee | Affiliation* |
| 2026 | Dr. Stephanie Spahr | Berlin |
| 2023 | Dr. Uwe Kunkel | Augsburg |
| 2022 | Dr. Oliver Happel | Karlsruhe |
| 2021 | Dr. Thorsten Hüffer | Vienna, AT |
| 2020 | Dr. Arne Wick | Koblenz |
| 2019 | Dr. Holger Lutze | Essen |
| 2017 | Dr.-Ing. Aki Sebastian Ruhl | Berlin |
| 2013 | Dr. Martin Elsner | Neuherberg |
| 2011 | Dr. Michael Radke | Stockholm, SE |
| 2008 | Dr. Carsten Schmidt | Cologne |
| 2007 | Dr. Frank von der Kammer | |
| 2005 | Prof. Dr. Thilo Hofmann | Vienna, AT |
| 2004 | Dr. Thomas Heberer Dr. Thomas Ternes | Berlin Idstein |
| 2001 | Dr. Michael Hupfer | Berlin |
| 2001 | Dr. Christian Zwiener | Karlsruhe |
| 2000 | Dr. Michael Weller | Munich |
| 1999 | Dr. Thorsten Reemtsma | Berlin |
| 1998 | Dr. Adelheid Weßler | Mainz |
| 1992 | Dr. Gudrun Abbt-Braun | Karlsruhe |
| 1989 | Dr. Heinz-Jürgen Brauch | Karlsruhe |
| 1988 | Dr. Ptere Werner | Karlsruhe |
| 1987 | Dr. Ralf Klopp | Essen |
| 1986 | Dr. Günther Baldauf | Karlsruhe |
| 1986 | Dr. Ursula Obst | Essen |
| 1985 | Dr. Christian Steinberg | Munich |
| 1984 | Dr. Uwe Schöttler | Dortmund |
| 1983 | Dr. Rolf Dieter Gimbel | Karlsruhe |
| 1983 | Dr. Wolfgang Höll | Karlsruhe |
| 1982 | Dr. Martin Jekel | Karlsruhe |
| 1981 | Dr. Ludwig Dinkloh | Bonn |
| 1979 | Dr. Ernst Gilbert | Karlsruhe |
| 1978 | Dipl.-Ing. Sabine Normann | Wiesbaden |
| 1978 | Dr. Ernst A. Nusch | Essen |
| 1977 | Dr. Wolfgang Kühn | Karlsruhe |
| 1976 | Dr. Dietrich Maier | Überlingen |
| 1975 | Dr. Fritz Frimmel | Munich |
| 1973 | Dr. Andreas Grohmann | Berlin |
| 1973 | Dr. Johannes K. Reichert | Mainz |
| 1972 | Dr. Ludwig Weil | Munich |
| 1971 | Dr. Walter Kölle | Karlsruhe |
* at the time of the award