The jury describes author Annett Gröschner's diverse work as "original and rich in experience." "Her stories, essays, and novels weave together to form a dense tapestry in which she captures German history in an alert and always stimulating way. As a curious chronicler not only of her own biography in eastern Germany, she traces the lives of people and the fate of places with a keen sense for the forgotten and repressed. Her openness and empathy shed new light on the world every time."

Annett Gröschner, born in Magdeburg in 1964, has lived in Berlin since 1983, initially as a student of German language and literature, later as a journalist for various magazines and newspapers. Her first collection of poems, Herzdame Knochensammler, was published in 1993, followed by the novels Moskauer Eis (2000) and Walpurgistag (2011), as well as several volumes of essays and short stories. Most recently, she published the non-fiction book Drei ostdeutsche Frauen betrinken sich und gründen den idealen Staat (Three East German Women Get Drunk and Found the Ideal State) (2024), in which she, together with Peggy Mädler and Wenke Seemann, speaks plainly and sparks a major social debate. The book became a bestseller. Her new novel "Schwebende Lasten" (Floating Loads) will be published in March 2025. It focuses on crane operator Hanna Krause, whose eventful life story is exemplary for the life of women in East Germany in the 20th century. 

Gröschner has received numerous awards. In 1989, she received the Anna Seghers Prize, and in 2021, she received the Großer Kunstpreis Berlin (Fontane Prize) and the Klopstock Prize of the State of Saxony-Anhalt for her entire body of work.

The prestigious literature prize, awarded jointly by ZDF and 3sat in collaboration with the state capital Mainz, is endowed with €12,500. The winner receives a one-year residency in the city writer's apartment, located in the heart of Mainz's old town, as well as the opportunity to produce a film on a topic of their choice in collaboration with ZDF and 3sat.

The Mainz City Writer's Literary Prize has been awarded annually since 1985. The 2024 winner is the writer Julia Schoch. The jury members are: Dörte Hansen, Eva Menasse, Peter Stamm, Feridun Zaimoglu, ZDF program director Dr. Nadine Bilke, ZDF culture editor Anne Reidt, 3sat coordinator Natalie Müller-Elmau, 3sat literary critic Dr. Michael Schmitt, ZDF culture editor Dr. Susanne Becker (jury chair), Mainz's head of cultural affairs Marianne Grosse, and the current city writer Julia Schoch.