On the occasion of the 17th Figura Theatre Festival in Baden in 2026, the Cantonal Council of Aargau presented the 12th Grünschnabel («Greenhorn») Prize, worth 10,000 Swiss Francs, to an emerging puppet theatre company. The prize recognises a young company at the beginning of its professional career that works with puppets and objects in an artistically independent and outstanding way.

The Grünschnabel jury, consisting of Christian Bollow, dramaturg at Stuttgart’s «FITZ – Das Theater animierter Formen»; Gunhild Hamer, Head of the Funding Section, Department of Culture, Canton of Aargau; and Anna Sommer, comic artist and illustrator from Zurich, attended the five nominated productions during the festival and awarded the 2026 Grünschnabel Prize to the German collective Panne Fatale.

Congratulations!

You can read the speech given at the award ceremony here.

In a video on Instagram, Lotta Lechtenberg shares a glimpse of her joy at receiving the award.

 

The nominees for the «Grünschnabel 2026» were:

TMEL (CZ) 
Pelech – The Nest

Panne Fatale (DE)
Anfang.Ziege.Ende

Rohstoff (CH)
ORLANDO*

Subi Lee (KR/DE)
Alles Gute – K(l)eine Antworten auf eine grosse Frage

Lukas Schneider Figurentheater (DE)
Scaena corpus – Mann und Puppe nehmen Mass

 

The call for applications for the 13th Grünschnabel Prize will be published in spring 2027.