Shalom Collective Australian Jewish Writer Awards 2026 winners announced

The 2026 Shalom Collective Australian Jewish Writer Awards winners have been announced.

The winners and highly commended works, selected from shortlists announced in July, are:

The Leslie and Sophie Caplan Award for Jewish Nonfiction ($10,000)

• Winner: All Consuming: Germans, Jews, and the Meaning of Meat (John M Efron, Stanford University Press)
• Highly commended: Ferryman: The Life and Deathwork of Ephraim Finch (Katia Ariel, Wild Dingo Press)

The Edith Hausmann Award for Jewish Playwrights ($10,000)

• Sabotage (Ziggy Enoch)

The Bobby Adler Award for Young Jewish Writers ($5,000)

• All Rage Blaze Light (Anna Jacobson, Upswell)

The Szymon (Simon) Klitenik Award for Jewish Fiction ($5,000) (no shortlist)

• Late Blossoms (Merav Fima, Vine Leaves Press)

The Chaya Fedler Award for Poetry ($500)

• Winner: “Koldre” (Gadia Zrihan)
• Highly commended: “I Never Knew a Song Could Be a Knife” (Jessica Chapnik Kahn) and “Sleep School” (Leah Kaminsky).

The winners were announced at an event on 3 August as part of the Festival of the Spoken Word, presented by the Sydney Jewish Writers Festival.

More information about the winning works is available on the awards website.

Category: Awards Local news