Video of the 2026 Encounter Prize Award Ceremony

We invite you to view the award ceremony announcing the winner of the unique book award, Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize, held on 11 September 2026 at the Lviv International BookForum Festival.

This year, the award recognized an outstanding contribution to nonfiction books (historical works, biographies, memoirs, journalism, and essays) dedicated to the past and future of Ukrainian-Jewish relations. The event program included a presentation of the short list of nominees. Authors and publishers shared their thoughts on Ukraine's interethnic interaction and contemporary intercultural dialogue.

Encounter: The Ukrainian-Jewish Literary Prize Award Ceremony 2026, Lviv, 11 September 2026.

This year, the jury chose between an intellectual biography, a study of Lviv's Jewish architectural heritage, a history of Lviv's photographers of the past, a biography of the city of Dnipro, and family memories of life between the grips of the totalitarian regimes of Hitler and Stalin.

The following jury members participated in the discussion: Jury Head Ola Hnatiuk (Warsaw) — professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, professor emeritus of the University of Warsaw, essayist, translator, and member of the Ukrainian and Polish PEN Clubs; Jury Member Serhiy Hirik (Kyiv) — Vice President of the Ukrainian Association for Jewish Studies, research fellow at the State Research Institution "Encyclopedia Press"; Jury Member Vladyslava Moskalets (Lviv) — a historian, researcher at the Center for Urban History, Associate Professor at the Department of History, and head of Jewish Studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU), Lviv.

Andriy Pavlyshyn moderated the ceremony, with UJE Board Member Igor Shchupak, UJE communications director Natalia A. Feduschak, shortlisted authors, and representatives from Ukrainian publishing houses in attendance.

The shortlisted books for the 2026 Encounter Prize were:

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)

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)

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, Hitler, Stalin, mama i tato. Yak my rodynoyu dyvom vyzhyly (Kyiv: Vydavnytstvo «Knyholav», 2025)

Photo: Lviv International BookForum Festival