About six months after canceling dozens of long-running creative awards, the Culture Ministry plans to resume the prizes in an expanded format for 2026. The ministry says the revived program will include the traditional awards that were cut this year, alongside new categories meant to widen recognition in Israeli culture.
According to the ministry, the new scheme will highlight artists from the periphery, graduates of youth villages and boarding schools, new immigrants, creators linked to Mizrahi culture, and work connected to heritage, tradition, and Jewish-Israeli identity. New calls for entries are expected soon in literature, music, jazz, dance, interdisciplinary art, plastic arts, and cinema.
Among the returning awards are the Levi Eshkol Prize for writers and poets, the Arik Einstein Prize for veteran artists, the Frank Pelleg Lifetime Achievement Prize for a soloist or conductor, the Prime Minister’s Prize for composers, awards for emerging writers and poets, prizes in classical music, and a jazz prize. The ministry also plans new awards for music ensembles and composers in Mizrahi music, a prize for a young artist from a boarding school or youth village, a prize for a new immigrant working in dance for up to 10 years, a lifetime achievement prize in jazz, and a cinema expansion from six prizes to ten.
The earlier cancellation of about 60 prizes, worth roughly NIS 5 million, sparked a backlash in the cultural world. Hundreds of writers, poets, and artists appealed to the ministry’s legal adviser and questioned the legality of Minister Miki Zohar’s move. Zohar said the cuts were due to what he called “clear disregard for artists with views shared by most of the public,” and he halted the funding until a professional committee could oversee awards for creators “from all parts of the public.”
Ministry officials said the new prizes will be funded in addition to the existing ones, and that the distribution mechanism and judging process are still under review. They said the changes will be introduced gradually after consultation with field professionals. In literature, the Board of Trustees will continue selecting the judges.
