{{Short description|Israeli prize for literature in Hebrew}}{{Infobox award | name = Sapir Prize | image = | awarded_for = Literary work published in Israel | presenter = Mifal HaPayis | country = Israel | year = {{start date and age|2000}} | website = [http://www.pais.co.il/sites/en/Foundations/Pages/SapirFund.aspx Sapir Prize] ''<small>(in Hebrew)</small>'' }} The '''Sapir Prize for Literature''' of Israel is a prestigious<ref name=Izikovich/> annual literary award presented for a work of literature in the Hebrew language.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/david-grossman-lessons-in-the-language-of-love-751013.html|first=Julie |last=Wheelwright|title=David Grossman in the language of love|date=February 16, 2002|newspaper=The Independent}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> The prize is awarded by Mifal HaPayis (Israel's state lottery), and is a part of the organization's cultural initiatives. It bears the name of the late Pinhas Sapir, a former Finance Minister of Israel, and was first awarded in 2000.
== Prize money == The Sapir Prize, based on the British Man Booker Prize, is the most lucrative literary prize awarded in Israel.<ref name="Sela20090716">{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/culture/arts-leisure/forget-sapir-give-her-the-bernstein-1.280113|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105011741/http://www.haaretz.com/culture/arts-leisure/forget-sapir-give-her-the-bernstein-1.280113|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 5, 2012|title=Forget Sapir. Give her the Bernstein|last=Sela|first=Maya|newspaper=Haaretz|date= July 16, 2009}}</ref> Of five shortlisted titles, the winning author receives 150,000 NIS (roughly 39,000 USD), and the four runners-up each receive 40,000 NIS. For the year 2019, a new award will be granted for a debut work. Up to three candidates will receive a prize of 20,000 NIS, with the winner receiving 40,000 NIS.<ref>{{cite news|last=Zeret|first=Elad|url=https://www.ynet.co.il/entertainment/article/SJ5aBW00zU|title=''Potkhim daf khadash''|publisher=Yedioth Ahronoth print edition|date=6 February 2020|language=Hebrew|access-date=6 February 2020}}</ref>
== Prize rules ==
The group of judges for the prize is composed of prominent literary figures, whose names are kept confidential until the prize winner is named.<ref name=kissileff/> Some of these judges are replaced from year to year.
The judges first select five books published during the previous year as final contestants for the prize. These books are selected from a list of books provided by the major publishing houses. After a number of weeks, a winner is chosen from these five books and is publicised during Israel's Hebrew Book Week.
The five finalist authors participate in a round of literary get-togethers with readers throughout Israel with the backing of Israel's state lottery. In 2005, the state lottery ran a competition allowing readers to bet on the winner of the prize; the first 30 people to guess the winner correctly received the five finalist books.
In 2003, author Etgar Keret's book of short stories ''Anihu'' was disqualified from competing for the prize after it was discovered that the regulations required all competing books to run at least 60,000 words. This rule has since been abolished.
In 2006, in response to many petitions, the prize's management decided to open up the competition to works published in the previous five years which had been translated into Hebrew from other languages. All competing authors must be Israeli citizens. The change was intended to allow Israeli authors writing in Russian, Arabic, English, and additional languages to compete. These authors can compete either in the normal prize track, or in a separate track specifically for translated works, from which only one work is selected.
Prizewinners are given funding to have their work translated into Arabic and one other foreign language.<ref name=kissileff/>
The prize's awarding ceremony is broadcast every year on television during Israel's Hebrew Book Week.
In 2015 the prize rules were changed, only residents of Israel are eligible.
==Criticism==
The Sapir Prize has been criticized on the grounds that it is given to bestsellers. Some of the country's most important writers refuse to submit their candidacy for it, including Meir Shalev, Aharon Appelfeld, A.B. Yehoshua and Amos Oz.<ref name=Sela20090519>{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1086476.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022065601/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/critic-slams-head-of-sapir-panel-1.276267|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 22, 2012|title=Critic slams head of Sapir panel|first=Maya|last=Sela|newspaper=Haaretz|date=May 19, 2009}}</ref>
In 2014, for the first time, the award was won by a writer (Reuven Namdar) living outside Israel.<ref name=kissileff/> Thereafter, it was decided that only candidates resident in Israel would be eligible to submit their works for the prize. Critics of this decision have said that for a language to isolate itself, and to restrict its literature to local concerns, is to stifle it.<ref name=weiss>{{cite web|title=Israel Doesn't Have a Monopoly on Great Hebrew Literature|url=http://forward.com/opinion/309641/great-hebrew-literature-doesnt-come-only-from-israel/|date=June 8, 2015|last=Weiss|first=Haim|publisher=Jewish Daily Forward}}</ref> However, others have argued that literary funding is in short supply in Israel, and would be best directed at local authors rather than those living more comfortably abroad.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/opinion/309599/why-only-writers-living-in-israel-deserve-sapir-prize/|publisher=Jewish Daily Forward|last=Carner|first=Talia|title=Only Writers Living in Israel Deserve To Win Its Biggest Prize|date=June 8, 2015}}</ref>
==Winners== *2024: Yossi Avni-Levy, ''Three Days in Summer (Kinneret Zmora Dvir)''<ref>Barr, Neria (30 January 2025). [https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/article-839836 Yossi Avni-Levy wins Sapir Prize for Literature] ''The Jerusalem Post''. Retrieved on 25 November 2025</ref> *2023: Ofra Offer Oren, ''What Happened to Hagar in Eilat?'' [https://e.walla.co.il/item/3648414] *2022: Orit Ilan, ''Sister to the Pleiades'' [https://www.mako.co.il/culture-articles/Article-171759fe1b37581026.htm] *2021: Hila Blum, ''How to Love Your Daughter''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hila Blum’s 'How to Love Your Daughter' wins the Sapir Award |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-691546 |access-date=2022-10-25 |website=The Jerusalem Post |language=en-US |issn=0792-822X}}</ref> *2020: Sami Berdugo, ''Donkey'' [https://www.calcalist.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3895960,00.html] *2019: Ilana Bernstein, ''Tomorrow We’ll Go to The Amusement Park''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shenkar - The Recipient of the 2019 Sapir Prize for Literature: Ilana Bernstein |url=https://www.shenkar.ac.il/en/news_items/ilana-burnstein |access-date=2022-10-25 |website=www.shenkar.ac.il |archive-date=2022-10-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025225453/https://www.shenkar.ac.il/en/news_items/ilana-burnstein |url-status=dead }}</ref> *2018: Etgar Keret, ''Fly Already'' [https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2019-01-21/ty-article/.premium/etgar-keret-wins-sapir-prize-for-literature/0000017f-e9aa-df5f-a17f-fbfe9ed50000] *2017: Esther Peled, ''Widely Open Underneath'' <ref name=Izikovich>{{cite web |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/esther-peled-wins-sapir-prize-for-literature-for-short-stories-book-1.5751782 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123013854/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/esther-peled-wins-sapir-prize-for-literature-for-short-stories-book-1.5751782 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 23, 2018 |title=Esther Peled Wins Sapir Prize for Literature for Book of Short Stories |work=Haaretz |author=Gili Izikovich |date=January 23, 2018 |accessdate=January 23, 2018}}</ref> *2016: Michal Ben-Naftali, ''The Teacher'' <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.haaretz.co.il/gallery/literature/1.3426790 |title=The Sapir Prize: The writer Michal Ben-Naftali is the winner of 2016 |work=Haaretz |language=Hebrew |author=Gili Isikovich |date=January 22, 2017 |accessdate=January 23, 2018}}</ref> *2015: Orly Castel-Bloom, ''An Egyptian Novel''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/culture/books/335139/orly-castel-bloom-scoops-always-controversial-sapir-prize/|title=Orly Castel-Bloom Scoops Always Controversial Sapir Prize |date=March 4, 2016 |author=Beth Kissileff |work=Forward}}</ref> *2014: Reuven Namdar, ''The Ruined House''<ref name=kissileff>{{cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/2015/01/27/default/in-first-ex-pat-author-ruby-namdar-wins-israels-leading-literary-prize|last=Kissileff|first=Beth|title=In first, expat author Ruby Namdar wins Israel's leading literary prize|publisher=JTA|date=January 27, 2015}}</ref> *2013: Noa Yedlin, בעלת הבית <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pais.co.il/News/Pages/622014.aspx |script-title=he:הוכרזה הזוכה בפרס ספיר לספרות |work=pais.co.il |author= |date=February 6, 2014 |accessdate=February 13, 2014 |language=Hebrew |archive-date=February 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160207004150/http://www.pais.co.il/News/Pages/622014.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> *2012: Shimon Adaf, ''Mox Nox'' <ref name=haaretz2013>{{cite web|url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/culture/2013-02-17/ty-article/.premium/israel-awards-it-version-of-man-booker-prize/0000017f-f71c-d887-a7ff-fffc7f260000 |title=Israel's top literary award, Sapir Prize, goes to Shimon Adaf |work=Haaretz |author=Staff writer |author-link=Staff writer |date=February 17, 2013 |access-date=February 18, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130218102206/http://www.haaretz.com/culture/israel-s-top-literary-award-sapir-prize-goes-to-shimon-adaf.premium-1.504118 |archive-date=February 18, 2013 }}</ref> *2011: Haggai Linik, ''Prompter Needed''<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/national/sapir-literary-prize-for-2011-awarded-to-haggai-linik-1.407658|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120116220708/http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/sapir-literary-prize-for-2011-awarded-to-haggai-linik-1.407658|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 16, 2012|title=Sapir literary prize for 2011 awarded to Haggai Linik|last=Sela|first=Maya|date=January 16, 2012}}</ref> *2010: Yoram Kaniuk, ''1948''<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Jerusalem Post|url=https://www.jpost.com/National-News/Yoram-Kaniuks-War-of-Independence-memoir-wins-Sapir-Prize|title=Yoram Kaniuk's War of Independence memoir wins Sapir Prize|last=Cashman|first=Greer Fay|date=March 25, 2011}}</ref> *2009: The prize was annulled this year after it was initially awarded to Alon Hilu for ''House of Dajani''.<ref name=Sela20090703>{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/national-lotto-revokes-sapir-prize-due-to-conflict-of-interest-1.279304|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150604181708/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/national-lotto-revokes-sapir-prize-due-to-conflict-of-interest-1.279304|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 4, 2015|last=Sela|first=Maya|date=July 3, 2009|newspaper=Haaretz|title=National lotto revokes Sapir Prize due to conflict of interest}}</ref> *2008: Zvi Yanai, ''שלך, סנדר'' *2007: Sara Shilo, ''The Falafel King is Dead'' *2006: Ron Leshem, ''Beaufort'' *2005: Alona Frankel, ''Girl'' <ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/alona-frankel-wins-sapir-literature-prize-for-girl-1.161980|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103064146/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/alona-frankel-wins-sapir-literature-prize-for-girl-1.161980|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 3, 2012|newspaper=Haaretz|title = Alona Frankel wins Sapir Literature Prize for "Girl"|last=Handelsatz|first=Michael|date=June 23, 2005}}</ref> *2004: Dan Tsalka, ''Tsalka's ABC'' *2003: Amir Gutfreund, אמיר גוטפרוינד (''Ahuzot HaHof'') *2002: Gail Hareven, ''The Confessions of Noa Weber'' *2001: David Grossman, ''Someone to Run With'' *2000: Haim Sabato, ''Adjusting Sights''
==See also==
===Individual recipients of prize=== * Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{cite web|url=https://culture.pais.co.il/sapir_default/|title=The Sapir Fund|publisher=Mifal Hapais (the Israel State Lottery)}} * Mati Shemoelof wrote his novel "The Prize" about a diasporic Hebrew prize for fiction in Berlin that challenges the Sapir Prize. [https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-prize An interview with Yakir Englander] on "New book network", 19.07.2021 {{Literature in Israel}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sapir Prize For Literature}} Category:Fiction awards Category:Hebrew literary awards Category:Israeli literary awards Category:Jewish literary awards Category:Awards established in 2000