In Heike Göbel, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation is honouring one of the most relevant German business journalists of recent decades at a public award ceremony. Her clear, well-founded analyses emphasise the importance of personal responsibility and entrepreneurial freedom. They make a significant contribution to anchoring the principles of the social market economy in the public debate. This tireless commitment to the realisation of the social market economy was decisive for this year's jury decision, chaired by Dr Christoph Brand, Treasurer of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Heike Göbel has been working for the FAZ since 2002 and has earned herself a firm place in Germany's economic policy discourse through her critical commentary and fact-based approach. Her work is exemplary for a constructive approach to economic and social challenges - always in the spirit of a free and responsible economic order.
The Chairman of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Prof. Dr Norbert Lammert, paid tribute to the award winner: "The social market economy thrives on dialogue - between politics, business and society. Heike Göbel has accompanied this dialogue over many years with a clear compass, analytical acuity and journalistic responsibility. Her work shows how important a free, critical press is for the functioning of our economic order."
The award ceremony will take place on 2 September 2025 in Frankfurt am Main. After honouring the prizewinner, Prof. Dr Christoph M. Schmidt, President of the RWI - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research in Essen and KAS Fellow 2025, will hold a discussion with her.
The Social Market Economy Prize is awarded by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation as an unendowed honourary prize. It recognises personalities and institutions that have rendered outstanding services to the social market economy. The prize will be awarded for the 22nd time in 2025.
Further information on the Social Market Economy Prize and the previous winners can be found here.
