Kurt Vorhofer was born in 1929 in Salzburg then moved to Vienna after his A-levels in 1947 where he enrolled in Jurisprudence at the University. He earnt his living amongst other things as an employee for the insurance of Agricultural and Forestry workers, as well as for the Vienna Chamber of Commerce.

In 1956 Kurt Vorhofer came to the “Kleinen Zeitung” in Graz as an editorial staff candidate and in 1958 was appointed to editor. When the editorial offices of the “Kleinen Zeitung” were founded in May 1959 in Vienna, Vorhofer took over the leadership, which he held for over 35 years until his retirement at the end of 1994.

In this position Vorhofer, who was also appointed to acting Editor-in-Chief in 1968 advanced to doyen of the Austrian domestic policy journalism. Due to his balanced judgement, his personal modesty, his loyalty to Catholic principles and his unambiguous patriotism, he earned himself a high moral authority which was respected beyond all party boundaries.

Kurt Vorhofer died unexpectedly in 1955 at 66 years of age. He had been awarded many prizes such as the Karl-Renner Prize, the Rene-Marcic Prize and the Leopold-Kunschak-Press Prize. In commemoration to him, the Kurt-Vorhofer Prize has been given since 1966, in co-operation with the journalist trade union and the “Kleinen Zeitung”.