Ribalow Prize

The Harold U. Ribalow Prize is Hadassah Magazine's annual literary award, given to an author who has written an outstanding work of fiction on a Jewish theme. Since its founding in 1983, it has recognized novels and story collections that explore Jewish life, history, and imagination.

The prize honors the late Harold U. Ribalow, a writer, editor, and anthologist known for his devotion to Jewish literature and his eagerness to champion new voices. He founded and edited Hadoar, long the only Hebrew-language weekly published outside Israel. His friends and family established the prize in his memory and placed its endowment with Hadassah Magazine. The first Ribalow Prize was awarded in 1983 to Chaim Grade for Rabbis and Wives.

Winners are chosen by an independent panel of judges. Over the decades, the prize has honored both celebrated and emerging writers, including Jonathan Safran Foer, Nathan Englander, Howard Jacobson, Edith Pearlman, Helene Wecker, Molly Antopol, and Jim Shepard. Each year's winner is celebrated at a ceremony in New York.

For more than four decades, the Ribalow Prize has reflected Hadassah Magazine's belief that good fiction is an aspect of truth and that the Jewish story is worth telling well.