On 9 May 2025 Prof Sontraud Speidel was presented with the Order of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg by Minister President Winfried Kretschmann at a ceremony in the Knights' Hall of Mannheim Palace. Every year, the state of Baden-Württemberg honours a few particularly deserving individuals with its highest award. Those honoured in previous years include Jürgen Klopp (2020), Cem Özdemir (2021) and Saša Stanišić (2024). Prof Sontraud Speidel is being honoured ‘as a pianist of world renown and for her outstanding commitment to young musicians’. This is by no means her first honour. In 2003, she was awarded the Golden Josef-Dichler Medal of the International Vienna Music Seminar in Vienna City Hall, in 2005 she received the Federal Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, in 2011 the Karlsruhe University of Music honoured her with the Eugen Werner Velte Prize and just last year, Lord Mayor Frank Mentrup presented her with the Medal of Honour of the City of Karlsruhe.