Max Grünebaum Prize 2025: AWARD WINNERS 2025
The award winners of BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg 2025
The environmental economist Dr rer. pol. Malte Welling is honoured for his outstanding scientific achievement. He receives the prize for his dissertation "Choice Experiments in the Valuation of Urban Ecosystem Services", which was awarded "summa cum laude".
His research examines the value of urban greenery, such as street trees and parks, for adapting to the consequences of climate change and quality of life.
The thesis was written in cumulative form in English and contains five scientific articles (instead of the usual three for dissertations). Dr Welling is the first author of four of these five articles, which have been published in internationally recognised and mostly very high-ranking journals.
The relevance of the work is emphasised by the great interest in the results from practice. He presented his findings to a wider target group in numerous practical publications such as policy briefs, factsheets and articles in user journals. He also presented them at events for municipal representatives, was an expert for a committee of the NRW state parliament and gave interviews on WDR and MDR about the value of urban gardens.
Dr Welling's work is pioneering in the field of the value of urban green services and in the method used. Based on choice experiments* as an established environmental economic method, the work opens up new areas of research in two directions. Firstly, it applies the method for the first time to determine the value of other forms of urban greenery, such as small and community gardens, and combines the evaluation of ecological with social and cultural services. Secondly, she shows how the validity of the results of choice experiments can be strengthened with innovative further developments of the method. To this end, she empirically investigates the effect of new approaches to conducting choice experiments, such as the integration of new types of questions, changing the order of questionnaires and new approaches to statistical modelling.
Dr Welling, who now works as a junior research group leader at the Centre for Kilmar Resilience at the University of Augsburg, explains: "I am very grateful to have been selected for the award. It confirms to me that my research is relevant and important. I am particularly encouraged by this, as I will be taking a closer look at social and societal issues of urban greening with a new research group."
*Choice experiments can be used to determine how much a certain good is worth to people and how much the individual characteristics of this good contribute to this.
Ernst Frank Award 2025
Architecture student Laura Pfeffer receives the Ernst Frank Award. Laura Pfeffer impresses with her outstanding academic achievements, her great creativity and her impressive artistic and architectural talent. Her exceptional commitment in the field of textile construction is particularly noteworthy. Her ability to combine Architecture and Sculpture through textile materials is unique. Her work not only demonstrates perfect craftsmanship, but also an innovative approach that opens up new creative possibilities. Her designs and sewn constructions are inspiring and show how textiles can be rethought as an architectural medium. In this way, she has a remarkable connection to the history of the founder Max Grünebaum, who himself worked as a cloth manufacturer.
One focus of her studies is on sustainable building. She has already realised a number of projects in this area, in particular on Materials Research with an artistic focus.
In addition to her academic and artistic achievements, Laura is an extremely socially committed student. She is highly committed to her fellow students, supports them both professionally and personally and makes a significant contribution to a positive and inclusive study environment.
Her anti-fascist commitment, which is reflected not only in her social work but also in her artistic work, is particularly noteworthy.
During her bachelor's degree at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, she spent a semester abroad in the UK at the University of Plymouth. She found it particularly enriching to familiarise herself with British culture, the exchange with the large international community and the differences to studying architecture at a German university.
With the support of the Ernst Frank Award, she is planning to study or work abroad in an English-speaking country. "Before my studies, I only completed small internships. These mainly gave me an overview of the breadth of the professional field. An internship in an architecture firm in the UK for 4 to 6 months would be an opportunity for me to combine a deeper insight into the world of work with getting to know other regions of the UK," says the award winner.
The winners of the Staatstheater Cottbus 2025 award
Baritone Nils Stäfe receives the Max Grünebaum Prize 2025. He has been a permanent member of the soloist ensemble at Staatstheater Cottbus since the 2017/18 season.
He has sung his way into the hearts of the audience in numerous roles and concerts. As ensemble spokesman, he is also committed to the working atmosphere and his colleagues. Nils Stäfe was born in Saalfeld in 1988 and received his first musical training with the Thuringian Boys' Choir. He studied Singing and Musical Theatre at the universities in Weimar and Leipzig with Prof. Siegfried Gohritz, Prof. Sabine Lahm and KS Prof. Roland Schubert and graduated with distinction. During this time, he already made guest appearances at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar and the Nordhausen Theatre. In 2011, before completing his studies, he took up a permanent engagement at the Erfurt Theatre. He has been a member of the Cottbus State Theatre ensemble since 2017.
In addition to his operatic work, Nils Stäfe is a sought-after concert and oratorio singer. He regularly works with renowned orchestras and choirs and dedicates himself to a repertoire that ranges from Bach and Handel to Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven to Mahler and Orff. Guest appearances have also taken him to international stages. He has performed with the Lautten Compagney Berlin, the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, the Czech Symphony Orchestra Prague, the Czech National Orchestra Brno and the Beijing Symphony, among others.
He has already appeared in numerous roles in operas, operettas and musicals at the Cottbus State Theatre and has developed impressively. On stage, he captivates with his great vocal presence and convincing performance. Directors appreciate his scenic sensitivity as well as his sense of timing. His humour not only comes into its own in the spotlight, but also backstage, which makes him popular with both the audience and the theatre's staff.
Nils Stäfe has appeared in the title role in KRÓL ROGER, as Escamillo in CARMEN, Melot in TRISTAN UND ISOLDE and as Leander in DIE LIEBE ZU DREI ORANGEN. In the 2023 Christmas fairy tale, young and old followed him on his journey as the donkey in DIE BREMER STADTMUSIKANTEN. In 2024, he made his role debut as Scarpia in TOSCA. In the same year, he created a trenchant portrait of the dark and enigmatic protagonist in the musical thriller SWEENEY TODD. In the production KEIN SCHÖNER LAND IN DIESER ZEIT, he then showed himself from a completely different side, in sequinned dress and with angry political songs. He has also appeared in concert, for example in CARMINA BURANA, in Beethoven's 9th SINFONY and in the MATTHÄUS PASSION.
In the current season, he can be seen at the Cottbus State Theatre as Sharp-less in Giacomo Puccini's MADAMA BUTTERFLY, as Heinz Stubnick in Gerd Natschinski's MESSESCHLAGER GISELA and in the title role in Wolfgang Böhmer's open-air musical JEDERMANN.
His vocal presence and convincing performance as well as his commitment are to be honoured with the Max Grünebaum Prize and give him further incentive.
Karl Newman Award 2025
Anna-Martha Thomas will be honoured with the Karl Newman Award. She has been working in this role at the Cottbus State Theatre since July 2024.
Anna-Martha Thomas was born in 1996 and grew up in Cottbus, where she graduated from the Lower Sorbian Grammar School. She has loved the theatre since her youth. She also played in the youth club at the Piccolo Theatre for many years and was an enthusiastic visitor to the Cottbus State Theatre from an early age.
In 2018, she began training as a fashion designer at the Lette Verein Berlin, from 2021 to 2022 as a member of the masterclass. During this time, Anna-Martha Thomas was also involved in various challenging artistic projects. She gained valuable experience in the fields of stage, costume and fashion design.
During her application, she was a member of the winning team of the "Haägen Dazs x Lette Verein" competition in 2019 and completed an internship with designer Kilian Kerner, which was extremely productive and gave her the opportunity to contribute creatively to major fashion events. Kilian Kerner also hired her as a dresser for the live show DSDS 2021 (RTL series). In this fast-paced working environment, she worked with great perseverance, organising looks, measuring, altering and supervising costume changes.
Her backstage experience in the fashion and television world taught her how to coordinate and manage complex processes.
In June 2022, Anna-Martha Thomas began working as a dresser at the Cottbus State Theatre. Anna-Martha Thomas unbureaucratically took over the management of the department for an extended period of time as a replacement for the head dressmaker due to illness.
With her prudent manner, she independently organised a large sale of costumes from the theatre's collection and was largely responsible for its successful implementation.
On 1 July 2024, Anna-Martha Thomas took over the department as head dressmaker and has managed it with great professionalism ever since. She has been committed to improving the dressing room conditions for the artists and the working conditions for the dressers. Thanks to her expertise as a fashion designer,
Anna-Martha Thomas contributed her own designs to the creation of new choir clothing, which was worn by the ladies and gentlemen of the opera choir for the first time at Whitsun 2025 during the performance of "Carmina Burana".
Anna-Martha Thomas is a very competent, reliable, highly committed and very popular colleague. As director, she has quickly earned the respect and recognition of her colleagues in the costume department as well as the artists and guests.
Anna-Martha Thomas is a great asset to the Cottbus State Theatre. Her extraordinary commitment and enthusiasm should be honoured with the Karl Newman Award and continue to motivate her.
