Green Bean Books and Jewish Book Week are thrilled to announce the Jewish Children’s Book Awards are back. Now in their third year, the awards recognise exciting new work by Jewish writers and illustrators living in the UK and Europe.
One author and one illustrator will each receive a separate £1000 prize and their winning entries will be considered for publication by specialist Jewish children’s book publisher, Green Bean Books.
This year’s judges will again be author and chair of the book selection committee of PJ Library Chris Barash; publisher of Green Bean Books Michael Leventhal and award-winning children’s author Eric Kimmel. For the first time, they will also be joined by renowned illustrator, comics artist and writer Omer Hoffmann and Curator of Illustrated Children’s Books at The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Orna Granot.
“Not only are the awards a fantastic way of discovering new Jewish stories for children, they are also an amazing opportunity for unpublished writers and illustrators to be given an international platform,” says Michael Leventhal. “We’ve been so impressed by the quality of the stories and pictures submitted over the last two years and can’t wait to see what this year’s entries have to offer.”
Adds Claudia Rubenstein, Director of Jewish Book Week, “We’re delighted that the awards are returning for a third year. The entries and winners in the first two years were heartening proof that our traditions of storytelling and creativity are as strong as ever and that younger readers can still count on being entranced by books.”
Says Chris Barash: “It is a true joy to review Jewish stories and art from all parts of Europe and the UK that are submitted for this unique award. Hats off to Green Bean Publishers and Jewish Book Week for continuing to highlight and encourage the fresh voices and unique visions at work in Jewish children’s literature today.”
The winners of last year’s 2022/2023 Jewish Children’s Book Awards were, in the illustrator category, Rome-based Mel Zohar and, in the writer category, London-based Dina Leifer. Leifer’s book, Eddie Had An Egg, will be published by Green Bean Books in 2024 and an example of Zohar’s winning artwork can be found below.
Jewish children need Jewish books,” says Eric Kimmel. “What tends to be forgotten
in the English-speaking world is that the Jewish people are international. The award
affirms this in the most positive way by opening the door to artists and writers from
other countries.”
“I was highly impressed with previous winning entries, so I am really looking forward to judging this year’s awards,” adds Omer Hoffman. “It is fascinating to see how Jewish themes offer such a wonderful playground for authors and illustrators.”
Full submission criteria for the 2023/2024 Jewish Children’s Book Awards can be found here . Submissions close on Monday, 23 October 2023 at 5pm.
For further details of the prize, please visit greenbeanbooks.com or email
awards@greenbeanbooks.com.
To watch two short videos about the awards, please click here and here .