Lauryn, 17, lives in Hamburg and is in 12th grade. She dances hip-hop and house, played the lead role of young Nala in the musical “The Lion King” for three years, and has participated in projects at Kampnagel and in an SWR feature film. She also expresses her artistic work on roller skates, both in projects and on social media. In addition to the stage, she volunteers to raise awareness of discrimination, especially in her work with children and young people. As a jury member, she attaches great importance to selecting projects that empower and encourage children and young people and enable them to have enriching artistic experiences.

Dan Thy Nguyen is a freelance theater director, actor, writer and singer in Hamburg. He has worked on various productions at Ballhaus Naunynstraße, Mousonturm Frankfurt, Kampnagel, MDR and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, among others. In 2014 he developed and produced the play "Sonnenblumenhaus" about the pogrom of Rostock -Lichtenhagen, which won the "Hörnixe" in 2015 in its radio play version and is still played at various institutions. Since 2020, he has directed the Hamburg festival "fluctoplasma - 96h Kunst Diskurs Diversität" with his production company Studio Marshmallow and he is deputy board member of the LAG Kinder- und Jugendkultur Hamburg. In 2021, together with the entire ensemble, he received the German Radio Play Award for his acting performance. In 2022 he published, among other things, his first volume of poetry "Über Wasser und Tote" and co-curated the exhibition "Wer wir sind" at the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn in 2023.

Julian Kamphausen has many years of experience in dramaturgy, directing, and cultural management at renowned German theaters (including Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Berliner Ensemble, Schauspielhaus Wien). As an author and director, he has developed and realized award-winning radio play projects. Between 2016 and 2021, he successfully initiated and directed innovative formats for digital and performative art (Performersion at re:publica, Hauptsache Frei Festival Hamburg, Prater Digital Berlin). As co-founder of the Studio for Infinite Possibilities (2021), he is responsible for strategies, conception, and the expansion of strategic partnerships and networks. He also volunteers on cultural policy committees and juries (including Fonds Darstellende Künste, Stiftung Zukunft Berlin, Fachausschuss Kultur Berlin, among others).

Julia-Huda Nahas initially trained as an advertising manager and worked for several years as a project manager, marketing and sales manager in the private sector. In 2011, she decided to change course and study cultural education at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, which she completed in 2015 with a bachelor's thesis on inclusive theater as part of the EU project “kunst verbind(e)t”. In addition to realizing independent productions and projects, she works for municipal and independent theatres. In addition, there are always thematically focused projects, such as the scenic reading “Heller Schatten”, a commissioned work on the occasion of the inauguration of the Nazi memorial in Neandertal. In 2020-2023, Julia-Huda Nahas led the project BITTER (SWEET) HOME, which she initiated with a focus on the promotion of BI*POC artists, anti-racist narratives and collaborative writing. In addition to her intensive networking work (theaterautor*innen-netzwerk, VThea, ASSITEJ), she is regularly represented on juries. She is currently a member of the jury for the German Federal Children's and Youth Theater Prize.

Elena Philipp is an editor at nachtkritik.de and works as a presenter and freelance cultural journalist for publications including Freitag and Berliner Morgenpost. Since 2018, she has co-hosted the theater podcast with Susanne Burkhardt (Deutschlandfunk Kultur); in 2020, the duo held a guest lectureship in literary criticism at the University of Göttingen. In 2021, Elena Philipp was co-curator of the conference “Theater & Netz” and co-editor of the anthology “Theater und Macht” (Heinrich Böll Foundation & nachtkritik.de). She is a member of various juries and an occasional lecturer at the Free University of Berlin. In 2023, she and her colleagues received the Bernd Mand Prize for Cultural Journalism for the online event series “Play Time – Stream und Diskurs junges Theater” (Play Time – Stream and Discourse on Young Theater).

Joshua Störzinger, born and raised in Mannheim, graduated from high school in 2024. He is currently studying dance and choreography in Berlin. He is very enthusiastic about the world of theater and music and their unusual styles.

Maximilian Grafe has been co-director of the Network of Independent Theaters (NFT) since 2022, coordinating the work of this nationwide network of production houses and independent theaters. At the same time, since January 2025, he has been setting up the “Menschen machen Kultur” (People Make Culture) program for the Lausitz region, which promotes civil society participation in art and culture in the process of structural change in Brandenburg's Lausitz region.

Previously, he was interim deputy director of the Halle Opera for the 2020/21 season and was active in various contexts in the performing arts. After studying theater studies at the University of Leipzig, he worked as artistic production manager and dramaturg at the Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, the Schauspiel Leipzig, the Anhaltisches Theater Dessau, and the Halle Opera, among others, and was also active for ITI Germany, the Mülheim Theater Days, and the Saxon Theater Meeting.

Paula Katharina Keller is doing a year of volunteer service in Chemnitz, where she also grew up. She has gained acting experience in various productions (drama and puppet theater) and short film projects. She wants to help give others the opportunity to create art, rediscover themselves, and work within a wonderful community, while also promoting diversity in rural areas more broadly.

Mariella Pierza was born and raised in Berlin-Neukölln. She began performing at an early age at the Atze Musiktheater and the Deutsches Theater Jung. During that time, she was very active in children’s and youth advisory boards and served as a curator for the Augenblickmal Festival 2025. She has been studying acting at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre since April 2026.

Beata Anna Schmutz was born in Gdansk, Poland in 1975. After studying German at the University of Gdańsk, she continued her university education in the subjects of art history, educational science and literature at the Ruprecht Karls University in Heidelberg. She is the artistic director of numerous theater, art and media education projects and was a cultural education employee at the Haus der Jugend Heidelberg from 2005 to 2016, where she headed the art and theater departments. Freelance director and dramaturg since 2006, university lecturer in the fields of aesthetic education, post-dramatic theater and performance. In 2005 she founded the theater and performance group RAMPIG, where she works as a director and dramaturg. From 2016 to 2018 she was head of the Volkstheater department at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. Since 2018 she has been directing the Mannheim City Ensemble at the National Theater Mannheim. Member of the board of the Dramaturgical Society since 2016.

Christopher Weymann (he/him) is a queer-feminist performer, computer scientist and theater maker for a transgenerational audience. At FUNDUS THEATER / Forschungstheater in Hamburg, he realizes projects and productions in co-creation with children and young people in the field of tension between society, science and art. With the preamble "Everything that is binary must be hacked!" he develops digital instruments and theater prototypes for the participatory deconstruction of heteronormative, classist and adultist power systems.