The award, accompanied with €2,000 in prize money, was presented to the economist and associate professor (Institute for Corporate Finance, JKU Linz) in recognition of his outstanding dissertation. JKU Rector Meinhard Lukas emphasized how important it is to recognize academic work by presenting awards like the "VKB Wissenschaftspreis". The dissertation was supervised by university professors Dr. Eveline Artmann and Dr. Helmut Pernsteiner.

For over 25 years, the VKB Bank has presented the "VKB Wissenschaftspreis" in recognition of outstanding academic work in the field of banking and cooperative systems. Assoc. Prof. Dick’s paper was presented an award along with three other academic papers.