The prize for the best scientific work in the field of white-collar crime and corporate criminal law, donated by the law firm petsche pollak, went to two graduates in 2023. In the Palais Coburg, the two beaming winners, Viola Hysek, LL.M., for her master’s thesis at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, and Mag. Dr. Kerstin Waxnegger for her dissertation at the Karl-Franzens-University Graz, received the prize of EUR 7,500 from the President of the Association of Judges, Mag. Sabine Matejka, on 22 June 2023.

Out of numerous submissions, the two papers on the scientific reappraisal of current economic criminal law topics were awarded by the top-class expert jury, consisting of Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ingeborg Zerbes, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Robert Kert and Hon.-Prof. senior public prosecutor Dr. Fritz Zeder, D.E.A., with the assistance of the sponsors Mag. Simone Petsche-Demmel and MMag. Dr. Andreas Pollak.

Hysek’s paper on “Judicial Criminal Liability of Public Officials for Unlawful Execution of Environmental Administrative Law”, and Waxnegger’s paper on “Artificial Intelligence and Criminal Law” stood out among a large number of first-class papers. Since the jury considered both papers to be of equal merit, it was decided this year to award two prize winners.

The ceremony was attended not only by the expert jury but also by high-ranking representatives from academia and practice, such as the President of the Vienna Bar Association, Hon.-Prof. Dr. Michael Rohregger.

The following After-Party in the magnificent garden of Palais Coburg provided a worthy setting to celebrate the success of this year’s award winners in a befitting manner.