The Jewish Book Council and The Jewish Chronicle are delighted to announce the establishment of the Chaim Bermant Prize for Journalism in memory of the author and journalist, who was a leading light of The Jewish Chronicle for forty years until his death in 1998. The first award was presented at Jewish Book Week in February 2008.
Chaim Bermant was both witty and wise to a rare degree. He was one of the leading chroniclers and critics of his age, and his weekly column in The Jewish Chronicle was compulsory reading over decades.
Described by the late Lord Jakobovits, the former Chief Rabbi, as “Anglo-Jewry’s voice of conscience” and by himself as a “licensed heretic”, he always wrote memorably and incisively, combining humour and erudition to convey his original and often irreverent perspective on the issues of the day.
Chaim Bermant’s voice reached well beyond the Jewish community. He regularly contributed feature articles and reviews to many of the nation’s broadsheets and periodicals, in particular The Observer and The Sunday Telegraph. He also wrote over thirty books of history, fiction, satire and memoirs, all imbued with his characteristic wit and elegance.
The judges for the first award will be David Rowan, Editor of The Jewish Chronicle, Jonathan Freedland, journalist and author, and Jonny Geller, literary agent and author. They will be looking for journalists whose writing best reflects the qualities that made Chaim Bermant so outstanding and so loved.

THE PRIZES

The Jewish Book Council and The Jewish Chronicle are delighted to announce the opening of submissions for the Chaim Bermant Prize for Journalism 2011.

Judging this year will be Stephen Pollard, Editor of The Jewish Chronicle and Daniel Finkelstein, Executive Editor of The Times and winner of the Chaim Bermant Prize for Journalism 2008.
The prizes are open to all journalists, but the subject must have relevance to Jewish themes and/or Israel.

Published Journalist
The winner in this category will be chosen by the judges on the basis of outstanding achievement in the field of journalism, and will receive £3,000. Candidates may be nominated either by themselves or by others, whether private individuals or publications.

Aspiring journalist
This is open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 30 (on 31 October 2010). Candidates should submit a previously unpublished non-fiction article of between 500 and 1,000 words. The winner will receive £2,000, and the opportunity to take up an internship at The Jewish Chronicle. An edited version of the article will be published in The Jewish Chronicle.

TO ENTER

Closing date for submissions is Tuesday 30 November 2010. Entries, nominations and articles should be sent to journalismprize@bermant.com. Please see the full terms and conditions and information about the different categories online at www.bermant.com/prize.

Click on the link to find out more about Chaim Bermant