Prof Dr Susanne Buch, Vice-Rector for Studies and Teaching, congratulated the award winners on behalf of the university management. "With the Teaching Lion, we are honouring lecturers who go beyond the subject matter to inspire enthusiasm, provide impetus and create space for development. Once again this year, the committee found it difficult to select the award winners due to the high proportion of very highly rated courses," says Buch. "Our thanks therefore go not only to this year's award winners, but to all teaching staff who contribute to the quality of teaching at the University of Wuppertal with their great commitment."

The prize money totalling 15,000 euros will be earmarked for further support of outstanding teaching, for example for additional teaching assistants, materials or excursions to accompany events.

The teaching award winners are

• in the category "Course with 50 participants and more" - each with prize money of 5,000 euros: Dr Lisa Klümper (Social Psychology and Personality Psychology) and Dr Antonius Weixler (Modern German Literature)
• in the category "Course with 10 to 49 participants" - awarded 2,000 euros: Dr Björn Beele (Inorganic Chemistry)
• in the "Innovation Award" category - endowed with 3,000 euros: Prof. Dr Andreas Kalweit (Manufacturing & Material Science). The prize for particularly innovative teaching is awarded each year through separate nominations by the student councils. Kalweit impressed the jury with several very highly rated courses, many of which deal specifically with questions of innovation development. "He creates the space for his students to work on innovations in the form of their own projects and adapts the structure and materials of his teaching accordingly to the needs of the students," reads the statement from the student council of the School of Art and Design.
• in the category "student tutors" - combined with a book voucher worth 100 euros: Jacob Näckel (School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences)