At the CultAWARD, each side does what it does best. Artificial intelligence reads what has been written about a cult and measures it against seven criteria – by fixed anchors, candidate by candidate, with sources. Three juries of seven people each decide who is nominated. The public crowns the Cult of the Year.
Status October 2026 · draft procedure for the Class of 2027. The juries will be appointed by the end of 2026 and adopt these rules at their first meeting. The nominations for 2027 already published come from the editorial preselection; they will be reviewed again under this procedure before the juries decide.
The AI reads. The jury decides. The public crowns.
Four roles
Who decides what at the CultAWARD
The AI · it reads and assesses
It researches every candidate in depth, preferably in primary sources, and assesses the seven criteria of the Cult Canon by fixed anchors. Every candidate is assessed three times independently and cross-checked by a second instance. It sits on every jury as an eighth member – without a vote.
The jury of 21 · it decides
Three juries of seven members each: one for Bamberg, one for Germany, one for the world. Seven, because the canon has seven criteria; twenty-one, because it awards twenty-one points. The juries nominate the class.
The public · it crowns
From the nominees, the public chooses the Cult of the Year. The vote is free of charge, not tied to any purchase, one vote per person and genre.
The publisher · he vouches for it
He checks facts and rights, not taste, and is responsible for every publication. He has no vote on the juries.
Why machine and human
The best of two worlds
Studies show that human award panels favour candidates from their own country (Zitzewitz, Stanford). Language models, in turn, have weaknesses of their own, such as a preference for the position and length of an answer (Zheng et al., 2023), and they lack lived experience. That is why the CultAWARD divides the work.
What the AI contributes
It has no friends among the candidates and expects no invitation. It measures the hundredth candidate like the first, it reads in all fourteen genres at once, and it justifies every score with its sources.
What the jury contributes
It knows what a cult feels like: at the bar, in the stadium, on the sofa on New Year’s Eve. It recognises what no source records, and it takes responsibility for the verdict with its name.
The three juries
Seven voices per level
The members will be appointed by the end of 2026 and introduced here as soon as they have accepted. Each jury brings together science, culture, sport, media, young voices and people from a cult community.
Jury CA:Bamberg
Seven voices from Bamberg: city history, brewing and beer-cellar culture, stage and cinema, sport, press, young culture and a citizen from a cult community.
Jury CA:National
Seven voices from Germany: cultural studies, film and television, music, sport, brands and design, the young generation and a voice from a cult community.
Jury CA:International
Seven voices from around the world, at least three of them living outside Germany: culture, film, music, sport and design, consumer culture and an international fan community.
The rules of independence
A verdict, not a favour
Not for sale
A nomination costs nothing and can neither be applied for nor bought. The jury nominates first, then we talk about partnerships – and every one is named openly.
Free of bias
Every jury member discloses any connection to a candidate and does not vote in that case. Partners and sponsors cannot become jury members.
With open deviation
If a jury departs from the AI’s proposal, it needs five of seven votes and a written justification. Every deviation is recorded in the jury minutes.
With publisher’s appointments
The publisher himself appoints up to three cults per class. They must meet the canon and visibly bear the note “Publisher’s appointment”.
The procedure, disclosed.
Seven steps from candidate to cult – right down to the exact wording the AI receives.