THE JEWISH CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS FOR WRITING AND ILLUSTRATION

Green Bean Books and Jewish Book Week are pleased to announce the launch of two exciting new prizes for children’s authors and illustrators living in Europe, the UK and Israel. The awards have been established to discover inspiring and relevant stories for young children based on Jewish history, values and traditions. One author and one illustrator will each receive a £1000 prize and their work will be considered for publication by specialist Jewish children’s book publisher Green Bean Books. The awards will be judged by author and chair of the book selection committee of PJ Library Chris Barash; publisher of Green Bean Books Michael Leventhal; director of the Children’s and YA department at Kinneret-Zmora-Dvir Yael Molchadsky; and translator and author Lawrence Schimel.

Awards Judges

Chris Barash is chair of the book selection committee of PJ Library, a Jewish family engagement programme of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, a North American non-profit organization based in Agawam, Massachusetts. Chris is a former day school teacher and principal and the author of several Jewish-themed picture books.

Yael Molchadsky is the director of the Children’s and YA department at Kinneret-Zmora-Dvir publishing house in Israel overseeing the publication of more than 80 new titles each year, translated and original. She has translated picture books from English and German and her first book for children The Chameleon that saved Noah’s Ark, was translated into six languages.

Michael Leventhal is the publisher of Greenhill Books and Green Bean Books. He is the author of Green Bean Book’s The Chocolate King and was the co-author of Jews in Britain, published by Shire. He was the founder of the Jewish food charity Gefiltefest.

Lawrence Schimel is an author and literary translator based in Madrid, Spain who has published over 120 books in diverse genres. His picture books have won a Crystal Kite Award from SCBWI and have been selected for the White Ravens from the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany and for IBBY’s Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities three times.


Submissions

Click here for submissions criteria and how to submit.


General Information
The winners of the Award for Illustration and the Award for Writing will receive £1,000 each.
All entries will be considered for publication by Green Bean Books but critical feedback will not be provided on submissions.
The prize money is separate from any advance made if an entry is contracted and published by Green Bean Books or another publisher.
Authors/illustrators must be aged 18 or over on the date of submission.
No hardcopy submissions will be accepted.
Entries must be submitted by 12pm BSTon 1 September 2021.
The author/illustrator retains copyright of their work.
Individuals may enter both the Award for Illustration and the Award for Writing but must do so separately.
The shortlist will be announced in December 2021.
The winners will be announced at Jewish Book Week 2022.