For the first three years, the Golden Candlestick was the highest honour for this category.
It was then replaced by the Golden Bowl as a Challenge Prize, that would be passed to the winner of the next occasion, however as it was not given out for 17 years, the prize was abandoned for good in 1996.
Regular prize winners receive a Film Award in Gold whereas the runners-up receive a silver award.
On some occasions, no film received the gold prize and a winner of the Silver Award was declared the best film of the year.
From 1951 to 1986 the prize was awarded by a commission which selected the best German feature film released in the previous 12 months.