National Jewish Book Awards | Jewish Book Council

Inaugurated in 1950, the National Jewish Book Awards is the longest-running North American awards program of its kind and is recognized as the most prestigious. The Awards are intended to recognize authors, and encourage reading, of outstanding English-language books of Jewish interest.

Awards are presented in over eighteen categories, and the winning authors are celebrated at an annual gala in the year following the publication of the books under consideration. Past notable winners include Chaim Grade, Deborah Lipstadt, Bernard Malamud, Michael Oren, Chaim Potok, Philip Roth, Elie Wiesel, Jonathan Safran Foer, Deborah Dash Moore, and Sandy Eisenberg Sasso.

For information about attending the virtual National Jewish Book Award ceremony, please click here.

2020 Submissions Are Closed

June 24, 2020

Submissions Open

Sept 30, 2020

Submissions Close

Jan 27, 2021

Awardees Announced

April 12, 2021

Virtual Ceremony

<a href="https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/sites/default/files/downloads/2020-NJBA-Guidelines_2.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="142282" title="2020-NJBA-Guidelines_2.pdf" target="_blank">2020 NJBA Guidelines</a>

Submissions are Closed

<a href="https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/sites/default/files/downloads/Packing-Slip-NJBA.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="22075" title="Packing-Slip-NJBA.pdf" target="_blank">Packing Slip for 2020 NJBA Submissions</a>

Submit to the Mentorship Award

2020 Winners

Jewish Book of the Year

Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times

American Jewish Studies

Laura Arnold Leibman

The Art of the Jewish Family: A History of Women in Early New York in Five Objects

Autobiography and Memoir

When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father's War and What Remains

From Left to Right: Lucy S. Dawidowicz, the New York Intellectuals, and the Politics of Jewish History

Book Club Award

The Lost Shtetl

Children’s Picture Book

Lesléa Newman, Susan Gal (illus.)

Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail

Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice

Judaism for the World: Reflections on God, Life, and Love

Rachel Beanland

Florence Adler Swims Forever

Education and Jewish Identity

Sarah Bunin Benor

Hebrew Infusion

Food Writing & Cookbooks

Monday Morning Cooking Club

Now for Something Sweet

Laura Arnold Leibman

The Art of the Jewish Family: A History of Women in Early New York in Five Objects

The Unanswered Letter: One Holocaust Family's Desperate Plea for Help

Mentorship Award

Deborah Harris

Director of The Deborah Harris Agency

Middle Grade Literature

The Blackbird Girls

Modern Jewish Thought and Experience

Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times

Nautilus and Bone

Sarit Kattan Gribetz

Time and Difference in Rabbinic Judaism

Sephardic Culture

Forging Ties, Forging Passports: Migration and the Modern Sephardi Diaspora

Women’s Studies

Laura Arnold Leibman

The Art of the Jewish Family: A History of Women in Early New York in Five Objects

Writing Based on Archival Material

Blood Libel: On the Trail of an Antisemitic Myth

Young Adult Literature

2020 Judges

Michlean Amir

Yaron Ayalon

Nancy Bachrach

Judith Baskin

Elisheva Baumgarten

Ruth Behar

Elisa Spungen Bildner

Mijal Bitton

Elli Bloomberg

Robert Bressman

Tracy Brown

Aviva L. Brown

Susan Caller

Ezra Cappell

Rabbi Carie Carter

Michael Cohen

Seth Cohen

Ellen Cole

Allison Davis

Jonathan Fass

Geri Gindea

Ezra Glinter

Darra Goldstein

Rabbi Isaama Goldstein-Stoll

Joy Greenberg

Blu Greenberg

Tully Harcsztark

Eli Havivi

Tali Herenstein

Carolivia Herron

Miriam Holmes

Rita Jacobs

Robin Jacobson

Alan Kadish

Marc Katz

Sharon Keller

Jonathan Kirsch

Rebecca Kobrin

Carmel Krauss

Sacha Lamb

Faye Landes

Fred Lazin

Lauren Lerner

Linda Levi

Fred Levick

Sheri Levin

Judith Lieberman

Karen Medwed

Erika Meitner

Joshua Mikutis

Mike Miller

Debby Miller

Yair Mintzker

Lisa Moses-Leff

Karen Moss

Devin Naar

Beverly Nadel

Pam Nadell

Amy Oringel

Zibby Owens

Avinoam Patt

Annie Polland

Shari Rabin

Deborah Rabner

Ethel Rackin

Dana Raucher

Robert Rifkind

Isabelle Rohr

Judith Rosenbaum

Matthue Roth

Isaiah Rothstein

Amelia Saltsman

Jonathan Sarna

Shira Schindel

Emily Schneider

Jason Schneiderman

Rachel Schultz

Lacey Schwartz

Amir Shaviv

Karen Shawn

Bill Shulman

Lisa Silverman

Rena Singer

Brian Smollett

Amy Spungen

Lilian Stern

Darin Strauss

Cathy Sussman

Regina Tapoohi

Shelby Tauber

Susan Tourial

Michael Twitty

Mike Uram

Jane Weitzman

Lenore Weitzman

Alan Wiener

Molly Yeh

Jeffrey Yoskowitz

Maayan Zik

Etta Zimmerman

Naming Opportunities

There are naming opportunities for the following award categories

Middle Grade Literature
Visual Arts
Young Adult Literature

For further information about naming opportunities call Naomi Firestone-Teeter at (212) 201‑2921.