Canadian Jewish Book Awards


The Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Awards were a Canadian program of literary awards, managed, produced and presented annually by the Koffler Centre of the Arts to works judged to be the year's best works of literature by Jewish Canadian writers or on Jewish cultural and historical topics.
In December 2014, The Koffler Centre of the Arts announced that the Awards were being "put on hiatus for 2015 and will resume, invigorated and reinvented, in 2016" as the Koffler recalibrates and revamps several of its current programs. In its place, a group of jury members formed the Canadian Jewish Literary Awards for 2015.
In February 2016, after a one-year hiatus, the Koffler Centre of the Arts relaunched the awards as the Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature.
The new awards have five categories, each with a $10,000 prize.
  1. Fiction
  2. Non-Fiction
  3. History
  4. Young Adult/Children's Literature
  5. Poetry

    List of winners of the Canadian Jewish Book Awards (1989 - 2014)

1989

  • Jewish Book Committee Award: Szloma Renglich, When Paupers Dance
  • Joseph Tannenbaum Award: Michael R. Marrus, ''The Holocaust in History''

    1990

  • Yiddish Literature: Simcha Simkhovitch, Tzaar un Treist
  • Excellence in Scholarship on a Canadian Jewish Subject: Michael Greenstein, Third Solitudes: Tradition and Discontinuity in Jewish Canadian Literature
  • Creative Writing: J. J. Steinfeld, Forms of Captivity and Escape
  • Joseph Tanenbaum Holocaust Book Award: Harold Troper and Morton Weinfeld, ''Old Wounds: Jews, Ukrainians and the Hunt for Nazi War Criminals in Canada''

    1991

  • Penina Rubinoff Memorial Award for Rabbinic Scholarship: Martin Lockshin, Rabbi Samuel Ben Meir's Commentary on Genesis
  • Non-fiction: Miriam Waddington, Apartment Seven: Essays Selected and New
  • Poetry: Kenneth Sherman, Jackson's Point
  • Joseph Tanenbaum Holocaust Book Award: Ibolya Grossman, ''An Ordinary Woman in Extraordinary Times''

    1992

  • Penina Rubinoff Memorial Award for Biblical and Rabbinic Scholarship: Rabbi Gedalia Felder, Yasodei Yeshurun: A Collection of Comments and Notes on Masechet Avat
  • Book Committee Award for Yiddish: Peretz Miransky, A Zemer Fun Demer
  • The Book Committee Award for Creative Writing : Morley Torgov, Saint Farb's Day
  • The Izzy and Betty Kirshenbaum Foundation Award for Poetry: Simcha Simkhovitch, Selected Poems
  • Joseph Tanenbaum Holocaust Book Award: Karolina and, Our Journey in the Valley of Tears
  • Literary Criticism: Rachel Feldhay Brenner, ''A.M.Klein: The Father of Canadian Jewish Literature''

    1993

  • Penina Rubinoff Memorial Award for Biblical and Rabbinic Scholarship: Rabbi J. Schochet, Mashiach: The Principle of Mashiach and the Messianic in Jewish Law and Tradition
  • Izzy and Betty Kirshenbaum Award for Yiddish: Sam Simchovitz, Stepchild on the Vistula
  • Jewish Book Committee Award for Creative Writing: Shel Krakofsky, The Reversible Coat
  • Jewish Book Committee Award for Autobiography / Memoir: Eta Fuchs Berk and Gilbert Allardyce, Chosen: A Holocaust Memoir
  • Jewish Book Committee Award for Historical Scholarship: Alan Davies, Anti-Semitism in Canada
  • Drs Andrzej and Jus Holocaust Literature Award: David Smuschkowitz, Peter Silverman, Peter Smuszkowicz From Victims to Victors
  • History Award: Michael R. Marrus, ''Mr. Sam: The Life and Times of Samuel Bronfman''

    1994

  • Penina Rubinoff Memorial Award for Biblical and Rabbinic Scholarship: Rabbi Chaim Nussbaum, Semblance and Reality
  • Canadian Society for Yad Vashem Award for Scholarship on a Canadian Jewish Subject: Esther Delisle, The Traitor and the Jew
  • Nachman Sokol Memorial Award for Canadian Jewish History: Gerald Tulchinsky, Taking Root
  • Henry Fuerstenberg Memorial Award for Creative Writing in Poetry: Seymour Mayne, Killing Time
  • Jewish Book Committee Award for Creative Writing in Fiction: Abraham Boyarsky, The Number Hall
  • Jewish Book Committee Award for Creative Writing in Fiction: Szloma Renglich, In the Heart of Warsaw
  • Jewish Book Committee Award for Journal / Memoir: Eli Rubenstein, For You Who Died I Must Live On...Reflections on the March of the Living
  • Joseph and Faye Tannenbaum Memorial Award for Cultural History: Ivan Kalmar, The Trotskys, Freuds and Woody Allens
  • Drs Andrzej and Jus Holocaust Literature Award: Ariella B. Samson, ''A Letter from My Father''

    1995

  • Penina Rubinoff Memorial Award for Torah Scholarship: Rabbi Aaron Levine, To Comfort the Bereaved
  • Canadian Society for Yad Vashem Award for Scholarship on a Canadian Jewish Subject: Andre Stein, Hidden Children; Forgotten Survivors of the Holocaust
  • Izzy and Betty Kirshenbaum Foundation Award for Original Translation from Yiddish: Sam Simchovitz, Stepchild on the Vistula
  • Izzy and Betty Kirshenbaum Foundation Award for Yiddish: Grunia Slutsky-Khon, Don't Look So Sad in the Window
  • Henry Fuerstenberg Memorial Award for Creative Writing in Poetry: Peter Ormshaw, The Purity of Arms
  • Rachel Bessin Memorial Award for Writing for Young People: Lillian Boraks-Nemetz, The Old Brown Suitcase
  • Jewish Book Committee Award for Fiction: Cary Fagan, The Animal's Waltz
  • Joseph and Faye Tannenbaum Memorial Award for Holocaust Literature: Jack Kuper, ''After the Smoke Cleared''

    1996

  • Betty and Morris Aaron Prize for Biography or Memoir: Eva Brewster, Progeny of Light/Vanished in Darkness
  • Joseph and Fay Tannenbaum Award for Canadian Jewish History: Sheldon J. Godfrey and Judith C. Godfrey, Search Out the Land: The Jews and the Growth of Equality in British Colonial America 1740-1867
  • Koffler Centre of the Arts President's Award for Jewish History: Erna Paris, The End of Days: A Story of Tolerance, Tyranny and the Expulsion of the Jew from Spain
  • Penina Rubinoff Memorial Award for Biblical Scholarship: Shoshana P. Zolty, And All Your Children Shall Be Learned
  • Harry and Florence Topper/ Milton Shier Prize for Original Translation from Yiddish: Frieda Forman, Ethel Raicus, Sarah Silverstein Swartz, Margie Wolfe, Found Treasures- Stories by Yiddish Women Writers
  • Henry Fuerstenberg Memorial Award for Creative Writing in Poetry: Shel Krakofsky, Blind Messiah
  • Louis Lockshin Memorial Award for Children's Literature: Gary Clement, Just Stay Put
  • Rachel Bessin Memorial Award for Writing for Young People: Walter Buchignani, Tell No One Who You Are
  • Bessie and Harry Frisch Memorial Award for Jewish Fiction: Agnes Jelhof Jensen, Dilemma
  • Canadian Society for Yad Vashem Award for Holocaust Literature: Eric Koch, ''Hilmar and Odette''

    1997

  • Joseph and Fay Tannenbaum Award for Canadian Jewish History: Yves Lavertu, The Bernonville Affair
  • Joseph and Fay Tannenbaum Award for Canadian Jewish History: Fraidie Martz, Open Your Hearts
  • Canadian Society for Yad Vashem Award in Holocaust History: Dr/ Felicia Carmelly, Shattered: 50 Years of Silence
  • Penina Rubinoff Memorial Award for Biblical Scholarship: Rabbi Steven Saltzman, A Small Glimmer of Light: Reflections on the Book of Genesis
  • Harry and Florence Topper/ Milton Shier Prize for Original Translation from Yiddish: Simcha Simchovitch, A Song Will Remain
  • Betty and Morris Aaron Prize for Scholarship on a Canadian Subject: Mervin Butovsky and Ira Robinson, Renewing Our Days
  • Henry Fuerstenberg Award for Poetry: Roger Nash, In the Kosher Chow Mein Restaurant
  • Louis Lockshin Memorial Award for Creative Writing in Poetry: Seymour Mayne and B. Glen Rotchin, Jerusalem
  • Rachel Bessin/Isaac Frischwasser Memorial Award for Young Adult Fiction: Carol Matas, After the War
  • Martin and Beatrice Fischer Prize for Fiction: Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces
  • Koffler Centre of the Arts President's Award for Holocaust Literature: Manny Drukier, ''Carved in Stone''

    1998

  • Joseph and Fay Tannenbaum Award for Canadian Jewish History: Alan Davies and Marilyn Nefsky, How Silent Were the Churches
  • Canadian Society for Yad Vashem Award in Holocaust History: Isabel Vincent, Hitler's Silent Partners
  • Morris Winemaker Prize in Literary Criticism: Norman Ravvin, A House of Words
  • Penina Rubinoff Memorial Award for Biblical Scholarship: Martin Lockshin, Rashbaums's Commentary on Exodus
  • The Jewish Book Awards Committee Prize for Memoir/Biography: Rosalie Sharp, Irving Abella, Edwin Goodman, Growing Up Jewish
  • Izzy and Betty Kirshenbaum Foundation Prize for Yiddish: Simcha Simchovitch, Funken in Zhar
  • Betty and Morris Aaron Prize for Scholarship on a Canadian Subject: Elizabeth Greene, We Who Can Fly
  • Henry Fuerstenberg Award for Poetry: Carol Rose, Behind The Blue Gate
  • Rachel Bessin/Isaac Frischwasser Memorial Award for Young Adult Fiction: Carol Matas, The Garden
  • Martin and Beatrice Fischer Award for Holocaust Literature: Régine Robin, The Wanderer
  • Dorothy Schoichet President's Award for Holocaust Literature: Roma Karsh, Endless
  • Elie Wiesel Prize in Holocaust Memoir: Elaine Kalman Naves, Journey to Vaja
  • Elie Wiesel Prize in Holocaust Memoir: Vera Schiff, ''Theresienstadt''

    1999

  • Sam Bojman Memorial Prize in Jewish History: Noah N. Shneidman, Jerusalem of Lithuania: The Rise and Fall of Jewish Vilnius, a Personal Perspective
  • Canadian Society for Yad Vashem Award in Holocaust History: Allan Levine, Fugitives of the Forest
  • Louis L Lockshin Prize for Short Fiction: Nora Gold, Marrow and Other Stories
  • Morris Winemaker Prize in Literary Criticism: Kenneth Sherman, Void and Voice: Essays on Literary and Historical Currents
  • Dorothy Shiochet President's Award for Biblical and Rabbinic Scholarship: Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, ReVisions: Seeing Torah Through a Feminist Lens
  • Henry Fuerstenberg Award for Poetry: Robin McGrath, Escaped Domestics
  • Isaac Frischwasser Memorial Award for Young Adult Fiction: Irene Watts, Goodbye Marianne
  • Martin and Beatrice Fischer Award in Fiction: Lilian Nattel, The River Midnight
  • Betty and Morris Aaron Prize for Holocaust Memoir: Elizabeth M. Raab, ''And Peace Never Came''