Blue Panther 2026: Honorary award for Kerner, "Unfamiliar" named best series

The 2026 "Blauer Panther – TV & Streaming Award" was presented on Wednesday evening at the BMW Welt in Munich. The gala was part of the Medientage München media conference, and Esther Sedlaczek hosted it for the second time. Bavarian broadcaster BR aired the ceremony from 22:45. Presenter Johannes B. Kerner received the Minister-President's honorary award, handed over by Markus Söder. According to the organisers, the Netflix production "Unfamiliar" won best series, and producer Andreas Bareiss accepted the prize.

Derya Akyol was named best actress for "Euphorie", and Johannes Hegemann best actor for the ZDF production "Olivia". Arndt Stüwe won the screenplay award for "Hundertdreizehn". "I'm so excited right now! This is my first award, I'm so, so grateful," Akyol said, according to Joyn. Annette Frier and Sonja Schönemann received the award for special overall creative achievement for "Frier und Fünfzig – Am Ende meiner Tage". Frier said, according to Joyn: "Finally a women's series has won an award!" "Nürnberg 45 – Im Angesicht des Bösen" won best docudrama, and "Die Nacht von Paris – Terror am Stade de France" best documentary.

The award for a pioneering digital knowledge format went to the YouTube channel "Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell". "The Summit – Der steile Weg zur Million" (Prime Video) was named best entertainment format. In the audience vote, "Ein sehr gutes Quiz (mit hoher Gewinnsumme)" with Joko Winterscheidt and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf won most popular family show, and Marcant most popular social media personality. According to the organisers, the youth award, worth 10,000 euros, went to Hanna Hribar for the series "Schattenseite". Around 750 guests attended the gala.