Shalom Collective expands Jewish Literary Awards
Submissions are now open for the Shalom Collective Jewish Literary Awards with awards for Jewish fiction, Jewish non-fiction, Jewish playwrights and young Jewish writers.
Celebrating the success of its inaugural competition, Shalom Collective has announced the return of the Australian Jewish Writer Awards for 2025, now featuring four prize categories that recognise excellence across a broader spectrum of Jewish writing.
Building on last year, two new awards have been added to the program: The Szymon (Simon) Klitenik Award for Jewish Fiction offering a $5,000 prize, and The Edith Hausmann Award for Jewish Playwrights with a substantial $10,000 prize for unproduced scripts by writers aged 18-45.
These additions complement the existing Leslie and Sophie Caplan Award for Jewish Non-Fiction ($10,000) and the Jewish Independent Young Jewish Writers Award ($5,000) for authors aged 18-40.
Anna Stern, Deputy Director of Programs at Shalom Collective who initiated the awards, said the expansion hopes to further inspire and support current and future Australian Jewish authors.
“After the successful reception of last year’s awards, we realised that there is a strong need to continue supporting our Jewish writers, and we intentionally developed two new awards so that more forms of writing and genres could be recognised and promoted,” she said.
The Klitenik Award honours the memory of Szymon (Simon) Klitenik, who arrived in Melbourne from Poland in 1939 at age 15, enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces, and was tragically killed in action in New Guinea in 1945. Dr Janet Hiller established the award in memory of this young man who “avoided the Holocaust to die fighting in the Pacific War”.
“My late grandfather became Szymon’s ‘guardian and friend’ and during the 1950s tried to find if any of Szymon’s family survived the Holocaust. I have continued this quest today but have not, as yet, identified any survivors of his immediate family … with this award, I would like him to live on,” she said.
The judging panel for this new fiction category includes writer and reviewer Magdalena Ball, writer and editor Katia Ariel, and Jessica Abelsohn, National Arts and Lifestyle Editor at The Australian Jewish News.
The Edith Hausmann Award for Jewish Playwrights was created by Judi Hausmann to honour her mother, Edith who was the founding librarian at Moriah College as well as an amateur actress.
“I inherited my love of theatre, and particularly of contemporary Australian plays, from my mother … her love of theatre meant our childhood was filled with excursions to the Ensemble, Old Tote and STC. I’m sure she would be thrilled to contribute to the creation of new Australian plays, particularly from Jewish writers,” Hausmann said. This category will be judged by playwright Lally Katz, theatre director Moira Blumenthal, and stage director Max Lyandvert.
Returning for its second year, the Leslie and Sophie Caplan Award for Jewish Non-Fiction will be judged by Professor Avril Alba from the University of Sydney, author Dr Lee Kofman, and Jonathan Caplan. Generously donated by the Caplan Family to honour the memory of their parents, pillars of the Sydney Jewish community who had a keen interest in modern Jewish history and literature. The 2024 award was won by former editor-in-chief of The Age, Michael Gawenda, for My Life as a Jew.
The Jewish Independent (TJI) Young Jewish Writers Award recognises emerging talent. Last year’s winner was poet Anna Jacobson for Anxious in a Sweet Store. The 2025 judges include writer and musician Simon Tedeschi, author and editor Dr Roz Bellamy, and Sharon Berger from TJI.
The awards have received support from Melbourne Jewish Book Week and aim to inspire current and future Australian Jewish authors while promoting their writing to wider audiences.
Submissions are now open for books published during the 2024 calendar year and will close on April 22, 2025. Winners will be announced in August.
For more information, visit shalomcollective.com.au/programs/jewish-book-awards
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