Bambi Awards

The Bambi, often simply called Bambi Awards and stylised as BAMBI, are presented annually by Hubert Burda Media to recognize excellence in international media and television, awarded to personalities in the media, arts, culture, sports and other fields "with vision and creativity who affected and inspired the German public that year," both domestic and foreign. First held in 1948, they are the oldest media awards in Germany. The award is named after Felix Salten's book Bambi, A Life in the Woods and its statuettes are in the shape of the novel's titular fawn character. They were originally made of porcelain, until 1958 when the organizers switched to using gold, with the casting done by the art casting workshop of Ernst Strassacker in Süßen.

Frequent awardees include Heinz Rühmann (12), Peter Alexander and O. W. Fischer (10), Sophia Loren (9), Maria Schell (8). Rock Hudson (6), Franz Beckenbauer, Pierre Brice (5) and Céline Dion (3).

The Bambi originated in 1948. The first prize winners were the actors Jean Marais and Marika Rökk, as well as the DEFA-director Prof. Kurt Maetzig. His movie Ehe im Schatten (Marriage in the Shadows) was chosen for the best German movie. At the 60th jubilee of the Bambi in 2008, the co-founder of the DEFA, who celebrated his 100th birthday on 25 January 2011, received a duplicate of a porcelain Bambi, because the original had been broken.

The award trophy was at first a fawn made of white porcelain, which was produced in the Majolika Manufaktur in Karlsruhe by the sculptor Else Bach (1899-1952). Since 1958 the golden-bronze deer has been produced in the art foundry Ernst Strassacker in the Swabian village of Süßen. According to Marika Rökk's daughter, the name Bambi is attributed to her because she'd said to her mother, after she brought the prize home: "Oh, you brought a Bambi for me," inspired by the book Bambi by Felix Salten or the 1942 Disney movie with the same name.

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Wikipedia