On the occasion of the 49th Data Protection Conference (DAFTA), the German Association for Data Protection and Data Security (GDD) awarded the GDD Data Protection Prize 2025 to Austrian author Raphaela Edelbauer on 13 November 2025.
Raphaela Edelbauer is one of the most extraordinary literary voices of her generation. Her works combine impressive linguistic virtuosity with a profound examination of social issues of the future. Whether historical material, feminist research, theatre, music projects or contemporary literature – Edelbauer uses an enormous range of artistic forms of expression to make complex topics accessible and tangible.
Her science fiction novel ‘DAVE’, for which she received the Austrian Book Prize in 2021, received particular attention. The work approaches the topic of artificial intelligence from an unusually humanistic perspective: it negotiates what identity means when a human being continues to exist as AI and asks how consciousness, data and self-reflection change in a technologised world. The literary power with which Edelbauer ad-dresses these issues makes ‘DAVE’ an important contribution to the social discourse on data protection, digital ethics and power structures in the age of AI.
In her laudatory speech, last year's award winner Prof. Dr. Katharina Zweig (RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau) praised Edelbauer's unique approach to exploring the digital future not purely from a technical perspective, but also from a cultural, philosophical and artistic one. According to Zweig, Edelbauer demonstrates ‘an iterative, exploratory approach to AI – an approach that can serve as a guide for us all.’ In view of the enormous amounts of data, complex neural networks and the resulting concentration of power, this form of reflection is essential.
We'll add a photo here soon.
The GDD Data Protection Award, in the form of a bronze plaque by Cologne sculptor Heribert Calleen, has been presented by the association's board since 2013 to indi-viduals who have made outstanding contributions to the development and acceptance of data protection and data security in Germany and Europe.
Previous winners are: Peter Schaar, former Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (2013), Jan Philipp Albrecht, Minister for Energy Transition, Agriculture, Environment, Nature and Digitalisation of the State of Schleswig-Holstein (2014), Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, former Federal Minister of Justice (2015), Viviane Reding, Member of the European Parliament (2016), Jörg Eick-elpasch, Head of Division at the Federal Ministry of the Interior (2017), Thomas Kranig, President of the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (2018), Prof. Dr. h.c. mult. Ranga Yogeshwar, physicist and science journalist (2019), Marc Elsberg, bestselling author (2020), Werner Koch, lead developer of GNU Privacy Guard (2021), Dr Stefan Brink, State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information in Baden-Württemberg (2022), Jörg Schieb, journalist and author (2023), Prof. Dr Katharina Zweig, computer scientist (2024).