Sapir Prize for Literature
| Sapir Prize | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Awarded for works of fine literature |
| Country | Israel |
| Presented by | Mifal HaPayis |
| First awarded | 2000 |
The Sapir Prize for Literature of Israel is a prestigious annual literary award presented for a work of literature in the Hebrew language. The prize is awarded by Mifal HaPayis (Israel's state lottery), and is a part of the organization's cultural initiatives. It carries the name of the late Pinhas Sapir, a former Finance Minister of Israel, and was first awarded in 2000.
The Sapir Prize, based on the British Man Booker Prize, is the most lucrative literary prize awarded in Israel. The winner receives 150,000 NIS (roughly 39,000 USD), and while the remaining final contestants are each awarded 25,000 NIS. In addition, the winner is granted translation of his work (from Hebrew) to the language of his choice.
The group of judges for the prize is composed of prominent literary figures, whose names are kept confidential until the prize winner is named. 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.
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