International jury announced for the 2026 Encounter prize
Ukrainians and Jews have lived side-by-side on the territory of modern-day Ukraine for nearly two millennia. Separately and together, they weaved a tapestry that has left an indelible mark on Ukraine's cultural, linguistic, and historical legacy. Long periods of peaceful co-existence were also accompanied by years of tragedy, separating these two peoples through different historical experiences and narratives. Yet, as the twenty-first century progresses and as Ukraine and Israel shape their identities as independent states, shared threads remain, giving rise to a new understanding of the past.
In December 2019, the Canadian charitable nonprofit organization Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, in cooperation with Ukraine's NGO "Publishers Forum" (Lviv, Ukraine), announced a new initiative entitled Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize. The prize aims to build on the common experiences of Ukrainians and Jews over the centuries, expressed in the written word. The Encounter prize is awarded annually to the most influential work in literature and nonfiction (in alternate years) that fosters Ukrainian-Jewish understanding, helping solidify Ukraine's place as a multi-ethnic society.
The first Encounter prize was awarded in September 2020 in the fiction category (prose, poetry and drama) to Vasyl Makhno for his novel Eternal Calendar (Lviv: The Old Lion Publishing House, 2019). The second year of the award in 2021 was dedicated to the nonfiction category (historical works, biographies, memoirs, journalism, essays), with the winner being Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern for the Ukrainian-language translation of his groundbreaking work, The Anti-Imperial Choice: The Making of the Ukrainian Jew (Kyiv: Krytyka, 2018). The third year of the award was held in 2023 in the fiction category with Sofia Andrukhovych named winner for her novel Amadoka (Lviv: The Old Lion Publishing House, 2020.) The fourth year of the prize in 2024 was dedicated to the nonfiction category, with the winner being Yuriy Skira for his work Solid. The Life-Saving Footwear Factory (Lviv: Choven Publishing House, 2023). The fifth year of the prize in 2025 was held in the fiction category with the award going to Khrystyna Semeryn (Editor) for Centuries of Presence. The Jewish World in Ukrainian Short Prose of the 1880s–1930s (Kyiv: Dukh i Litera, 2024).
The 2022 Encounter Prize was not awarded in connection with Russia's genocidal war against Ukraine.
In 2026, the Encounter prize returns with judging in the nonfiction category (historical works, biographies, memoirs, journalism, essays). The winners will be awarded in September 2026 at the 33rd Lviv International BookForum.
The Ukrainian Jewish Encounter and Ukraine's NGO "Publishers Forum" are pleased to announce the 2026 international jury for the Encounter prize in the category of nonfiction.
Ola Hnatiuk (Poland-Ukraine/Jury Head)
Ola Hnatiuk is a professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, emeritus professor at the University of Warsaw, an essayist, translator, public figure, and member of the Ukrainian and Polish PEN Clubs. She is the author of Courage and Fear (2015) and Farewell to the Empire. Ukrainian Discussions on Identity (Polish edition — 2003, Ukrainian translation — 2005) and other works.
Serhiy Hirik (Ukraine/Jury Member)
Serhiy Hirik holds a PhD in History/Candidate of Science in History. Born in Kryvyi Rih in 1985, he lives and works in Kyiv. Since 2013, he has worked at the State Research Institution "Encyclopedia Press". Since 2015, he has taught in the MA in Jewish Studies program at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He has been the Vice President of the Ukrainian Association for Jewish Studies since 2019. His academic interests include the history of Ukrainian Jews, antisemitism, and political parties and propaganda.
Vladyslava Moskalets (Ukraine/ Jury Member)
Vladyslava Moskalets is a historian, a researcher at the Center for Urban History in Lviv, an associate professor in the Department of History and the head of Jewish Studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University. She is engaged in research on the Jewish social history of Galicia in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Ukrainian-Jewish relations, and Yiddish reportage literature. She was a Fulbright Scholar (2018-2019) at Northwestern University, Chicago, with the project "Powerful and Needy: Economic Transformations of Eastern European Jews during the Period of Capitalism, the Case of Austrian Galicia."
