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.

2021 Submissions Are Open

June 24, 2021

Submissions Open

Sept 30, 2021

Submissions Close

Jan 20, 2022

Awardees Announced

<a href="https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/sites/default/files/downloads/2021-NJBA-Guidelines_0.pdf" type="application/pdf" length="145241" title="2021-NJBA-Guidelines_0.pdf" target="_blank">2021 NJBA Guidelines</a>

Submit Your Book

<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 2021 NJBA Submissions</a>

Submit to the Mentorship Award

2021 Winners

Jewish Book of the Year

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

American Jewish Studies

Nathaniel Deutsch, Michael Casper

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

Autobiography and Memoir

The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir

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

Book Club Award

The Hidden Palace

Children’s Picture Book

Nancy Churnin, Bethany Stancliffe (Illustrator)

Dear Mr. Dickens

Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice

People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present

Jai Chakrabarti

A Play for the End of the World: A Novel

Education and Jewish Identity

Simon J. Bronner

Jewish Cultural Studies

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

Food Writing & Cookbooks

Bene Appétit: The Cuisine of Indian Jews

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

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

Middle Grade Literature

Modern Jewish Thought and Experience

Erin Leib Smokler (Editor)

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

The Book of Anna

Katell Berthelot

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

Sephardic Culture

Daniela Flesler and Adrián Pérez Melgosa

The Memory Work of Jewish Spain

Women’s Studies

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

Writing Based on Archival Material

International Jewish Humanitarianism in the Age of the Great War

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.