The long list announced for the 2026 Encounter prize

In December 2019, the Canadian charitable non-profit 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. It is awarded annually to the most influential work that fosters Ukrainian-Jewish understanding, helping solidify Ukraine's place as a multi-ethnic society. The Encounter prize is awarded in two categories in alternate years: fiction (prose, poetry, and drama) and nonfiction (historical works, biographies, memoirs, journalism, essays) * **.

The first Encounter prize was awarded in September 2020 in the fiction category 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, 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 the winner for her novel Amadoka (Lviv: The Old Lion Publishing House, 2020). The winner in the fourth year of the prize in 2024, in the category of nonfiction, was Yuriy Skira for his book, 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. 

*Based on the decision of the UJE Board dated 2 June 2021, books financially supported by the organization cannot be submitted for Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize.

**Based on the decision of the UJE Board dated 3 March 2026, the book award jury is authorized to transfer a work submitted for its consideration from the fiction competition to the nonfiction competition and vice versa if there are grounds for this relating to the genre criteria. In this case, such work will be considered the following year, regardless of the publication date (the eligibility period for participation is expanded from two to three years).

The Ukrainian Jewish Encounter and Ukraine's NGO "Publishers Forum" are pleased to announce the long list for the 2026 Encounter prize, nominated in the nonfiction category, for books published in 2024–2025.

Vadym Adadurov, Rearranging Words Across Centuries: An Intellectual Biography of Il'ko Borshchak (Lviv: Ukrainian Catholic University Press, 2024)
Vadym Adadurov, Perestavliayuchy slova u stolittiah: intelektualna biohrafia Il'ka Borshchaka (Lviv: Vydavnytstvo Ukrainskoho Katolytskoho Universytetu, 2024)

Yuriy Biryulov, The Jewish Architectural Heritage of Lviv (Lviv: The Old Lion Publishing House, 2024)
Yuriy Biryulov, Yevreiska architekturna spadshchyna Lvova (Lviv: Vydavnytstvo Staroho Lvova, 2024)

Oleksandr Kotys, Lutsk: A Thousand Years of Life and History (Kyiv: Publishing House Vikhola, 2024)
Oleksandr Kotys, Lutsk. Tysiacha rokiv zhyttiya ta istorii (Kyiv: TOV Vikhola, 2024)

Iryna Kotlobulatova, Jewish Photographers and Photo Studios of Lviv (1860–1939) (Lviv: The Old Lion Publishing House, 2024)
Iryna Kotlobulatova, Yevreiski photohrafy ta photostudii Lvova (1860-1939) (Lviv: Vydavnytstvo Staroho Lvova, 2024)

Ivan Monolatii, Executor of the Word. Yakiv Orenstein: A Ukrainian Publisher at the Crossroads of Cultures, Ideologies, and Politics (Kyiv: Dukh i Litera, 2025)
Ivan Monolatii, Vykonavets slova. Yakiv Orenshtain. Ukrainskiy vydavets na perehrestiah kultury, ideolohii ta polityky (Kyiv: Dukh i Litera, 2025)

Dmytro Poliukhovych, The Jewish Cemetery of Sataniv: Stone Beasts and Magical Rites (Kyiv: Dukh i Litera, 2025)
Dmytro Poliukhovych, Yevreiskiy tsvyntar Satanova. Kam'yani zviri ta mahichni obriady (Kyiv: Dukh i Litera, 2025)

Andrii Portnov, Tetiana Portnova, Dnipro: Biography of a Great City in the Steppe (Kyiv: Publishing House Vikhola, 2024)
Andrii Portnov, Tetiana Portnova, Dnipro. Biohrafia velykoho mista v steppu (Kyiv: TOV Vikhola, 2024)

Daniel Finkelstein, Hitler, Stalin, Mom, and Dad: A Family Memoir of Miraculous Survival (Kyiv: Vydavnytstvo Knyholav, 2025)
Daniel Finkelstein, Hiter, Stalin, mama i tato. Yak my rodynoyu dyvom vyzhyly (Kyiv: Vydavnytstvo «Knyholav», 2025)

Natan Sharansky, I Shall Fear No Evil (Kyiv: Phronesis Books, 2025)
Natan Sharansky, Ne zliakayius zla (Kyiv: TOV Vydavnytstvo Phronesis, 2025)

The prize is valued at 7000 Euros. The winner receives 6000 Euros, with the author/s receiving 4000 Euros and the publisher 2000 Euros. Four (4) incentive awards will receive 250 Euros each.

The award ceremony for the Encounter prize will take place at the 2026 Lviv Book Forum.

The international jury for the 2026 Encounter prize is comprised of:

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."