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 the 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.

75th National Jewish Book Award are Open!

June 23, 2025

Submissions are Open

Sept 12, 2025

Submissions Close

To Be Announced

Awardees Announced

To Be Announced

75th National Jewish Book Award Celebration

Submissions are Open, Click Here to Submit!

<a href="http://staging.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 75th NJBA Submissions</a>

Submit to the Mentorship Award

The 74th National Jewish Book Award Celebration is Over

2024 Winners

Cover of 10/7: 100 Human Stories

Jewish Book of the Year

10/7: 100 Human Stories

Cover of A Cold War Exodus: How American Activists Mobilized to Free Soviet Jews

American Jewish Studies

A Cold War Exodus: How American Activists Mobilized to Free Soviet Jews

Cover of The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival and Hope on Israel's Borderlands

Autobiography and Memoir

The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival and Hope on Israel's Borderlands

Cover of Leonard Cohen: The Man Who Saw the Angels Fall

Christophe Lebold

Leonard Cohen: The Man Who Saw the Angels Fall

Cover of The Last Dekrepitzer

Book Club Award

The Last Dekrepitzer

Cover of Sharing Shalom

Children’s Picture Book

Danielle Sharkan; Selina Alko, illus.

Cover of The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic: Rereading the Women of the Talmud

Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice

The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic: Rereading the Women of the Talmud

Cover of The Safekeep

Yael van der Wouden

Cover of Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew

Education and Jewish Identity

Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew

Cover of Songs for the Brokenhearted: A Novel

Songs for the Brokenhearted: A Novel

Cover of Forbidden: A 3,000-Year History of Jews and the Pig

Food Writing & Cookbooks

Jordan D. Rosenblum

Forbidden: A 3,000-Year History of Jews and the Pig

Cover of The Hebrew Teacher

Hebrew Fiction in Translation

Maya Arad; Jessica Cohen, trans. 

The Hebrew Teacher

Cover of Reading Herzl in Beirut: The PLO Effort to Know the Enemy

Jonathan Marc Gribetz

Reading Herzl in Beirut: The PLO Effort to Know the Enemy

Cover of Occupied Words: What the Holocaust Did to Yiddish

Hannah Pollin-Galay

Occupied Words: What the Holocaust Did to Yiddish

Cover of Warsaw Testament

Holocaust Memoir Award

Warsaw Testament

Irving Yitzchak Greenberg

Lifetime Achievement

Irving Yitzchak Greenberg

Mentorship Award

Aaron Lansky

Founder, the Yiddish Book Center

Cover of Finn and Ezra's Bar Mitzvah Time Loop

Middle Grade Literature

Finn and Ezra's Bar Mitzvah Time Loop

Cover of Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life

Modern Jewish Thought and Experience

Tablets Shattered: The End of an American Jewish Century and the Future of Jewish Life

Cover of The Story of Your Obstinate Survival

Daniel Khalastchi

The Story of Your Obstinate Survival

Cover of Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity

Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity

Cover of Entwined Homelands, Empowered Diasporas: Hispanic Moroccan Jews and Their Globalizing Community

Sephardic Culture

Entwined Homelands, Empowered Diasporas: Hispanic Moroccan Jews and Their Globalizing Community

Cover of 101 Treasures from the National Library of Israel

101 Treasures from the National Library of Israel

Cover of Holy Rebellion: Religious Feminism and the Transformation of Judaism and Women's Rights in Israel

Women’s Studies

Ronit Irsahi and Tanya Zion-Waldoks

Holy Rebellion: Religious Feminism and the Transformation of Judaism and Women's Rights in Israel

Cover of The Business of Transition: Jewish and Greek Merchants of Salonica from Ottoman to Greek Rule

Writing Based on Archival Material

Paris Papamichos Chronakis

The Business of Transition: Jewish and Greek Merchants of Salonica from Ottoman to Greek Rule

Cover of Night Owls

Young Adult Literature

2024 Judges

Dahlia Adler

Marjorie Agosin

Michlean Amir

Yaron Ayalon

Nancy Bachrach

Judith Baskin

Ruth Behar

Ethan Berlin

Elisa Spungen Bildner

Mijal Bitton

Joan Bright

Tracy Brown

Ezra Cappell

Carie Carter

Jessica Chod

Rena Citrin

Daniel Cohen

Drew Cohen

Julia P. Cohen

Seth Cohen

Dani Colman

Allison Davis

Deborah Davis

Rachel DeWoskin

Michael Dumanis

Zev Eleff

Jonathan Fass

Karen Fiss

Eva Fogelman

Amy Friedkin

Jane Gerber

Geri Gindea

Ari Gofman Fishman

Rozanne Gold

Darra Goldstein

Joy Greenberg

Blu Greenberg

Bonnie Gurewitsch

Rachel Harari

Eli Havivi

Carolivia Herron

Joshua Holo

Jordana Horn Gordon

Rita Jacobs

Robin Judd

Alan Kadish

Menachem Kaiser

Marc Katz

Jordan Katz

Sharon Keller

Rebecca Kobrin

Eve Krakowski

Rachel Kranson

Carmel Krauss

Faye Landes

Fred Lazin

Alison Lerner

Linda Levi

Fred Levick

Sheri Levin

Judith Lieberman

James Loeffler

Alex London

Karen Medwed

Andrea Meislin

Erika Meitner

Jean Meltzer

Joshua Mikutis

Debby Miller

Heather Miller

Lisa Moses Leff

Karen Moss

Beverly Nadel

Pam Nadell

Shoshana Olidort

Jeff Oliver

Amy Oringel

Avinoam Patt

Hannah Pressman

Deena Pritchep

Deborah Rabner

Dana Raucher

Isabelle Rohr

Judith Rosenbaum

Matthue Roth

Amelia Saltsman

Jonathan Sarna

Rachel Schultz

Lacey Schwartz

Shai Secunda

Amir Shaviv

Karen Shawn

Lisa Silverman

Jill W. Smith

Amy Spungen

Linda Sterling

Lilian Stern

Lior Sternfeld

Elana Storch

Darin Strauss

Claire Sufrin

Cathy Sussman

Ruth Suzman

Joshua Teplitsky

Magda Teter

Susan Tourial

Tevi Troy

Alex Troy

Mike Uram

Jeffrey Veidlinger

Yonni Wattenmaker

Dov Weiss

Jane Weitzman

Lenore Weitzman

Evan Wolkenstein

Jeffrey Yoskowitz

James Young

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.