In the context of the Annual Assembly the National Academy Leopoldina honoured eleven excellent scientists with awards and medals for their outstanding achievements on September 23, 2011: Bert Hölldobler (Würzburg), Anna M. Wobus and Ulrich Wobus (Gatersleben), Moritz Kerz (Duisburg-Essen), Liqiu Meng (Munich), Tom A. Rapoport (Boston), Regine Kahmann (Marburg), Eberhard Hofmann (Halle), Ronald Wolf (Munich), Marc Remke (Heidelberg), Viola Balz (Berlin).