DAME 2025Four outstanding contributions awarded the Data Protection Media Prize

The Data Protection Media Award (DAME) 2025 was presented at the BvD Association Days 2026 in Berlin. This is the ninth time that journalistic and creative contributions that communicate data protection topics in an innovative, understandable and media-effective way have been honored. In doing so, they make a contribution to the secure handling of personal data. The DAME Award was established by the Professional Association of Data Protection Officers in Germany (BvD). We present the winning entries.

Four outstanding contributions awarded the Data Protection Media Prize

Main prize: "How secure are my AI chats?" (ARD)

ARD's AI podcast with Fritz Espenlaub, Marie Kilg and Gregor Schmalzried receives the Data Protection Media Award (DAME) 2025 for the episode "How secure are my AI chats?" The podcast addresses a particularly socially relevant topic and raises listeners' awareness of how artificial intelligence (AI) uses the data and traces shared on the internet. The main prize is endowed with 3,000 euros.

2nd prize: "Watch out for counterfeiters! On the trail of ID fraudsters" (SWR)

The 2nd prize, endowed with 1,500 euros, goes to the SWR documentary "Achtung Fälscher! On the trail of ID fraudsters" In it, author Claus Hanischdörfer presents several cases in which fraudsters forged ID cards or entire identities and caused considerable financial and psychological damage to their victims. The film also follows police and emergency services as they dismantle a counterfeiting workshop in Lithuania. Experts and scientists also have their say.

Youth Award: "Cookies" (Philipp Berning, Mikko Emil Denecke and Moritz Tietmeyer)

Three pupils from Städtisches Gymnasium in Ochtrup received the youth prize, also worth 1,500 euros, for their entry "Cookies", in which Philipp Berning, Mikko Emil Denecke and Moritz Tietmeyer educate their peers about cookies in computer games - using the example of their setting in the computer game "Minecraft". In it, players HMDP2025 and FishBrick 4811 receive an unexpected package because they blindly accepted cookies and terms and conditions.

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Special print prize: "Bugged by the partner" (netzpolitik.org)

The special print prize awarded by the German Donations Council goes to the netzpolitik.org research article "Bugged by a partner", for which Martin Schwarzbeck and Chris Köver analyzed data sets from a spy software company that had already been leaked. They discovered that women in particular are monitored by their partners via the app.

Information on the Data Protection Media Award (DAME)

The Data Protection Media Prize (DAME), which has been awarded annually since 2018, has established itself as a fixture in the German-speaking data protection discourse. The competition is aimed at media professionals from all sectors as well as pupils and students. The DAME is a project of privacy4people, the non-profit GmbH of the BvD e.V. klicksafe has supported the Data Protection Media Prize as a media partner for many years. Stefanie Rack (educational consultant at klicksafe) and Eric Hohenadel (klicksafe youth juror) are also part of the eight-member jury.

This text is based on the BvD e.V. press release dated May 5, 2026.