6th Bar Sagi Awards Event, 2026

The awards event for the 2026 Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize was held on April 30th, 2026.

As usual, it was held together with, and immediately preceding, the awards event for the Reuben Rose competition. Our President, Julian Alper, and the competition administrator, Michele Bustin, jointly presided; pictured with them above is one of the judges, Itamar Blumfield.

In addition to the winners and their families, many of our adult members and their guests attended the event to support these talented young poets, and since the event was held via Zoom they came from the United States, Canada and the UK, as well as from all over Israel. In all several dozen people attended the joint Bar Sagi + Reuben Rose awards event.

Professor Anthony Joseph, Bar’s grandfather and the sponsor of this prize, said a few words abut Bar and about the competition. Two of the three judges, Itamar Blumfield and Amiel Schotz, added their advice and comments (the third judge, Susan Bell, could not be present). The competition administrator, Michele Bustin, followed up and thanked all involved in its organization and publicity. While the number of entries did not reach the peak of the early years, 27 poems were entered and we reached a wide selection of schools. Several of our members commented to us after the event on the high quality of the poems.

The highlight of the evening was of course hearing the winners read their poems. Oshra Abecasis, aged 16, read “Held by the Past” which won first prize; Layan Abu Salah, aged 14, read “The child they called mature,” (second prize); and Sapir Golomb, aged 15, read “Beneath the Olive Tree,” which won 3rd prize.

Because of the high quality of the entries, the judges awarded three Honorable Mentions: Liam Ghanem, aged 14, for “Where the Quiet Hearts Rise;” Sheine Angart, aged 15, for “I Hate You,” and Itai Shapiro, aged 17, for “Do Other Animals”. All the poems may be read and downloaded here (PDF file).

We recorded a Zoom video of the dual awards event, the Bar Sagi Prize and the Reuben Rose Competition, together in one video and it is viewable on the Voices Israel YouTube channel; all our members and everyone registered for the event received a link. Feel free to share it with whoever you like!