At a celebratory evening reception Koenig & Bauer (KBA) in Würzburg was awarded with the Bavarian prime minister's honorary prize at the Bavarian Print Media Awards 2012 on 25 October. Prime minister of Bavaria Horst Seehofer praised the highly-innovative, world's second-largest press manufacturer as a showcase company with an impressive history and a bright future. At the celebration Bavarian media minister Thomas Kreuzer awarded the honorary prize to KBA president Claus Bolza-Schünemann in front of several hundred special guests at the community centre for the Jewish community of Munich and Upper Bavaria.

On behalf of Bavarian prime minister Mr Seehofer, in his speech Mr Kreuzer said: "For generations Koenig & Bauer has pushed the boundaries of innovation and shown courage to embrace new ideas. Over 2,500 patents and a top position in the patent statistics yearly, underscore its role as technological leader. Today KBA is a global player with 6,000 employees worldwide. Koenig & Bauer has a vital role in the printing press market and is global market and technology leader in large-format sheetfed offset, packaging, newspaper, metal and banknote printing. KBA successfully steered its way through the industry crisis of the past years financially and preserved its drive for innovation. Koenig & Bauer is an important ambassador for quality products from Bavaria and Germany. We are proud this international company has its headquarters at home here in Bavaria."

Posthumous award for Dr Hans-Bernhard Bolza-Schünemann
Thomas Kreuzer continued: "With this honorary award the Bavarian State Government also posthumously honours Hans-Bernhard Bolza-Schünemann, who died in 2010. He was president of KBA for 24 years. He made Koenig & Bauer one of the top manufacturers in the international printing press industry with his pioneering spirit. He was a visionary entrepreneur, an inspired engineer and inventor. Over 250 patents carry the name Bolza-Schünemann. Hans-Bernhard Bolza-Schünemann stood for the values that have made Koenig & Bauer so successful."

Claus Bolza-Schünemann on media shifts: "everything flows"
In his witty acceptance speech, KBA president and CEO Claus Bolza-Schünemann expressed his honour at receiving such an award on behalf of the company and his father. He said: "KBA is luckily only indirectly responsible for how people print and not for what is printed." With regard to the shift in print media, he quoted the Greek philosopher Heraklit with the words "Panta Rhei" (everything flows). This shift has constantly accompanied all six subsequent generations of the founding family over the company's 195 year long history. One cannot simply rely on past accomplishments, today's and future challenges must be continuously faced. He also recommended that the print media industry does the same. KBA president thanked his employees for their contribution to the company's success with the words: "Every company is an empty shell, without the people who work there." He also congratulated the other three winners as well as the nominees in the other categories of the Bavarian Print Media Awards:

Further Bavarian Print Media Award 2012 winners
In co-operation with industry associations Bavarian Newspaper Publishers Bavarian Print & Media and the Bavarian Magazine Publishers, the Bavarian government recognises innovative concepts, ideas and technology on the part of the printing industry with the Bavarian Print Media Prize awarded once every two years. The Bavarian prime minister's honorary prize is awarded to companies or individuals from the industry for their life's work. In the category "outstanding entrepreneurial achievements" the prize went to PPVMEDIEN publishing house in Bergkirchen for the cross-media Guitar product series, the prize for "exceptional technological achievements" went to J. Gotteswinter in Munich for the spectacular book "The current state of snowboarding" and finally the award for "outstanding technological achievements by new companies" went to Magazin MUH publishing house for an innovative magazine of the same name in Truchtlaching.