Thomas Przybilka, mystery scholar and AIEP Vice-president of Western Europe has been named as the winner of the Ehren-Glauser prize awarded by Das Syndikat for lifetime achievement in recognition of his commitment to the German-language crime fiction and for his many writings in the field of crime fiction. 

A bookseller and author, Przybilka was born in East Berlin. In 1957 he moved "without the appropriate approval of the responsible organs of the workers 'and peasants' state," settling in 1960 in Bonn. He worked from 1969 to 1997 as a bookseller and since 1998 leads the Bonn office of the book distributor "Missing Link."

Przybilka has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Archives of Detective Fiction at Empire State College, State University of New York, is a jury member for the German Crime Prize (Critics Award), and a founding member of the German Chapter of Sisters in Crime.

In 1989 he founded the renowned "Boka," the Bonn Crime Archive of Secondary Literature (Bonner Krimi Archiv Sekundärliteratur). The enormous non-profit archive collects international publications on the crime fiction genre and has been used by scholars in Germany and abroad. In 1998 he founded the newsletter Krimi-Tipp about the background, trends and issues in the European and international crime literature scene.

Przybilka has moreover built an unprecedented collection of documents about female crime writers. Since 1995 he has published numerous essays, articles, interviews, fiction and participated in documentaries on the subject, in Japan, the USA, Finland, France, and Bulgaria. For international media Przybilka is a respected source for German crime fiction.

This fast reading, red wine drinking, bearded scholar has been a member since 1991 a member of Das Syndikat, the German crime writers' association, where he is regarded as the memory of German crime literature, equally adept at trivia ("What spy novels existed before Kennedy? How many Holmes translations are there? "), or literary topics ("What shaped the genre in France in 1968?").

The jury awarding him the prize (Nina George, Gisbert Haefs and Andreas Izquierdo) also remarked that for many years Przybilka was Das Syndikat's heart, brain, and constant unyielding jury secretary. "We hereby honor him for 23 years of enduring power and passion."

The Ehren-Glauser has been awarded 26 times. Previous winners were, among others, Ingrid Noll, Felix Huby and Jürgen Roland. On Saturday, 28 April 2012, during the "Tango Criminale "- the exciting closing gala of the 26th Criminale, the largest of the German crime writing festivals, and the location of the annual meeting of Das Syndikat, the award will be presented. Information about the festival is available at www.die-criminale.de. A complete list of Glauser nominees for the best in German crime writing is also available at this site.

**This article is adapted from the jury's announcement. It is available in its original form at this website (Click Here)..