During the ceremony on December 11,  2017, Erich Hackl was awarded the ›Prize of Human Rights‹ by province of Upper Austria (›Menschenrechtspreis‹ des Landes Oberösterreich). The prize comes with an honorarium of 4’000 Euros.

According to the jury, Erich Hackl was awarded the prize because of his contribution to maintaining humanity and justice in society by remembering uncomfortable parts of history in his books. Erich Hackl’s novella Farewell Sidonia has become a standard work of reappraising Austria’s past during the Nazi period, and is therefore frequently read in schools.