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.

2022 Submissions Are Open

June 22, 2022

Submissions Open

Sept 16, 2022

Submissions Close

Jan 17, 2023

Awardees Announced

March 1, 2023

72nd NJBA Celebration

Submit Your Book!

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Submit to the Mentorship Award

2021 Winners

Cover of To Repair a Broken World: The Life of Henrietta Szold, Founder of Hadassah

Jewish Book of the Year

To Repair a Broken World: The Life of Henrietta Szold, Founder of Hadassah

Cover of A Fortress in Brooklyn: Race, Real Estate, and the Making of Hasidic Williamsburg

American Jewish Studies

Nathaniel Deutsch, Michael Casper

A Fortress in Brooklyn: Race, Real Estate, and the Making of Hasidic Williamsburg

Cover of The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir

Autobiography and Memoir

The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir

Cover of To Repair a Broken World: The Life of Henrietta Szold, Founder of Hadassah

To Repair a Broken World: The Life of Henrietta Szold, Founder of Hadassah

Cover of The Hidden Palace

Book Club Award

The Hidden Palace

Cover of Dear Mr. Dickens

Children’s Picture Book

Nancy Churnin, Bethany Stancliffe (Illustrator)

Dear Mr. Dickens

Cover of People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present

Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice

People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present

Cover of A Play for the End of the World: A Novel

Jai Chakrabarti

A Play for the End of the World: A Novel

Cover of Jewish Cultural Studies

Education and Jewish Identity

Simon J. Bronner

Jewish Cultural Studies

Cover of The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family

The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family

Cover of Bene Appétit: The Cuisine of Indian Jews

Food Writing & Cookbooks

Bene Appétit: The Cuisine of Indian Jews

Cover of The House of Fragile Things: Jewish Art Collectors and the Fall of France

The House of Fragile Things: Jewish Art Collectors and the Fall of France

Cover of The Ravine: A Family, a Photograph, a Holocaust Massacre Revealed

The Ravine: A Family, a Photograph, a Holocaust Massacre Revealed

Mentorship Award

Bonny V. Fetterman

Cover of Linked

Middle Grade Literature

Cover of Torah in a Time of Plague: Historical and Contemporary Jewish Responses

Modern Jewish Thought and Experience

Erin Leib Smokler (Editor)

Torah in a Time of Plague: Historical and Contemporary Jewish Responses

Cover of The Book of Anna

The Book of Anna

Cover of Jews and Their Roman Rivals: Pagan Rome's Challenge to Israel

Katell Berthelot

Jews and Their Roman Rivals: Pagan Rome's Challenge to Israel

Cover of The Memory Work of Jewish Spain

Sephardic Culture

Daniela Flesler and Adrián Pérez Melgosa

The Memory Work of Jewish Spain

Cover of The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos

Women’s Studies

The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos

Cover of International Jewish Humanitarianism in the Age of the Great War

Writing Based on Archival Material

International Jewish Humanitarianism in the Age of the Great War

Cover of Rebel Daughter

Young Adult Literature

Lori Banov Kaufmann

2021 Judges

David Adjmi

Marjorie Agosin

Adina Applebaum

Nancy Bachrach

Amanda Beckenstein Mbuvi

Ruth Behar

Tiferet Barenbaum

Elisa Spungen Bildner

Mijal Bitton

Tracy Brown

Aviva L. Brown

Susan Caller

Ezra Cappell

Rabbi Carie Carter

Rena Citrin

Seth Cohen

Ellen Cole

Allison Davis

Mitchell Davis

Amanda Dell

Rachel DeWoskin

Zev Eleff

Jonathan Fass

David Fishman

Jane Gerber

Geri Gindea

Darra Goldstein

Joy Greenberg

Blu Greenberg

Jeffrey Gurock

Avigayil Halpern

Tully Harcsztark

Eli Havivi

Tali Herenstein

Carolivia Herron

Miriam Holmes

Rita Jacobs

Robin Jacobson

Alan Kadish

Marc Katz

Sharon Keller

Jonathan Kirsch

Rebecca Kobrin

Leah Koenig

Arielle Korman

Rachel Kranson

Carmel Krauss

Sacha Lamb

Faye Landes

Fred Lazin

Linda Levi

Fred Levick

Sheri Levin

Judith Lieberman

Karen Medwed

Samira Mehta

Erika Meitner

Joshua Mikutis

Debby Miller

Lisa Moses-Leff

Karen Moss

Devin Naar

Beverly Nadel

Pam Nadell

Amy Oringel

Deborah Rabner

Ethel Rackin

Dana Raucher

Lev Rosen

Judith Rosenbaum

Matthue Roth

Moriel Rothman-Zecher

Isaiah Rothstein

Amelia Saltsman

Jason Schneiderman

Rachel Schultz

Lacey Schwartz

Amir Shaviv

Karen Shawn

Lisa Silverman

Brian Smollett

Amy Spungen

Lilian Stern

Darin Strauss

Cathy Sussman

Regina Tapoohi

Shelby Tauber

Magda Teter

Susan Tourial

Tevi Troy

Mike Uram

Dov Weiss

Jane Weitzman

Lenore Weitzman

Alan Wiener

Jane Yolen

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.