Who Will Win the 25th Sapir Prize?

Mifal HaPais announced the five final nominees for the 2025 Sapir Prize for Literature: "The Short List." The five finalists were chosen by the award's judging panel, headed by the Chair of the Judging Committee, **Dr. Ruth Calderon**, President of "Alma," a center for Hebrew culture, and a faculty member at the Mandel Center for Leadership.

Mifal HaPais Chairman, **Itzik La'ari**, and Mifal HaPais CEO, **Adv. Beni Dreyfus**, announced that to mark 25 years of literary excellence, the 2025 Mifal HaPais Sapir Prize for Literature ceremony will be hosted this year at the National Library in Jerusalem, after being hosted in Ofakim and Ma'alot-Tarshiha in the past two years, out of solidarity and support for residents of the South and North. The special ceremony where the grand winner will be chosen will take place on February 2, 2026.

The Sapir Prize, named after Pinchas Sapir, was founded in 2000 and is the most generous, prestigious, esteemed, and famous literary prize awarded in Israel by Mifal HaPais for the 25th year.

The award was founded to encourage quality Hebrew literature and reading culture in Israel, stemming from the great importance Mifal HaPais attributes to promoting Israeli literature and fostering Israeli writers.

The 5 finalists for the prize on "The Short List" are:

"**The Teacher**" by: **Alon Arad**, published by Catharsis Books."**Dream of an Upside-Down World**" by: **Ilana Bernstein**, published by Kinneret Zmora Dvir.

"**With All Due Respect to the Cave Woman**" by: **Ofir Touché Gafla**, published by Keter."**Bereavement, Failure, and Zombies**" by: **Amir Heresh**, published by Am Oved."**The Meadow Stunned My Ears**" by: **Anat Eynhar**, published by Afarsmon Books Ltd.

The five authors whose books were chosen for the 'Short List' will receive a grant of 60,000 ILS.

The grand winner of the 2025 Mifal HaPais Sapir Prize for Literature will receive a grant totaling 180,000 ILS, and their book will be translated and published in Arabic and one additional foreign language of their choice.

In addition, Mifal HaPais will purchase an edition of 500 copies of the books from the five authors chosen for "The Short List" and the "Debut Book" category, and donate them to public libraries across the country. The total prize money awarded to winners in the various categories amounts to 765,000 ILS.

Mifal HaPais is celebrating the **25th anniversary of the Sapir Prize for Literature** this year. Throughout the year, Mifal HaPais will hold various activities to mark 25 years of literary excellence. Recently, Mifal HaPais launched the "**Avigdor Reading Club**," a new national literary initiative in memory of the late former Mifal HaPais Chairman, **Avigdor Yitzchaki**, who served as Chairman from 2018 until the beginning of this year, and was known as a lover of culture, books, and literature. Mifal HaPais, in collaboration with the Center for Libraries and Literature in Israel, invites the public to open their homes and hearts for fascinating discussions about Hebrew literature and creation, in an intimate atmosphere, guided by leading professional facilitators—the best literary figures in Israel. The meetings will be free of charge to the public, with the project funded by the Mifal HaPais Council for Culture and Arts.