In 2023, the International Herbert Marcuse Society established the Prize in Aesthetics, Politics, and Cultural Studies. Douglas Kellner (Professor Emeritus and formerly the George F. Kneller Chair in the Philosophy of Education in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California Los Angeles—UCLA), author of numerous publications, including Herbert Marcuse and the Crisis of Marxism (1984), editor of the six-volume Collected Papers of Herbert Marcuse (1998-2014), and a prominent critical theorist, serves as the Honorary Chair of the prize committee, whose members are appointed by the Marcuse Society's board of directors.

In the words of Professor Kellner,

" The work of Herbert Marcuse aims to develop a critical theory of contemporary society. In so doing, he understood that theory, culture, and politics provide tools that illuminate and attack social domination as well as prefigure and aim at human liberation."

The Prize in Aesthetics, Politics, and Cultural Studies is awarded occasionally by the International Herbert Marcuse Society, for an outstanding work (e.g., book, article, essay)—recently published—that advances the critical theory of aesthetics, politics, and cultural studies in the struggle for liberation. Inspired by Marcuse's radical spirit, the prize committee seeks to recognize those making significant contributions to contemporary critical theory.

The current Chair of the prize committee for the Prize in Aesthetics, Politics, and Cultural Studies is Rainer Winter, Professor of Media and Cultural Theory and formerly director of the Institute of Media and Communications at Alpen Adria-Universitaet Klagenfurt (AUSTRIA) [email: Rainer.Winter@aau.at]. Previously, Dr. Winter served for many years as the head of the Institute of Media and Communications at Klagenfurt and as a board member of the Association for Cultural Studies. The other members of the prize committee include