The Franz Grillparzer Prize was a literary award, named after the writer Franz Grillparzer. It was established in 1872, shortly after his death, by his lover, Katharina Fröhlich. After her death in 1879, the award was continued by a donation to the Austrian Academy of Sciences.[1]
Until 1971, the prize was presented every three years to "das relativ beste deutsche dramatische Werk, das im Lauf der letzten 3 Jahre auf einer namhaften Bühne zur Aufführung gelangte und nicht schon vorher von anderer Seite durch einen Preis ausgezeichnet worden ist" ("the relatively best German dramatic work, which has been performed on a well-known stage during the last three years and has not been awarded a prize by another group").