Voices Israel, in collaboration with Prof. Anthony Joseph, the sponsor of the Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize, holds an annual awards event at which the prize winners and the poets who received Honourable Mentions read their winning poems. Each year’s awards event is commemorated with its own web page.
This page gives the results of the Bar Sagi Prize, from latest to first. To see the list of awards events pages, use the top menu.
The Fifth Bar Sagi Prize (2023-2024 competition)
Administrator: Michele Bustin
Judges: Susan Bell, Itamar Blumfield, Amiel Schotz
The fifth Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize opened for submissions on November 15, 2023 and closed on February 29, 2024. We received 52 entries from 29 young poets — very similar to the number received last year, even though the entire submission period was taking place during the Gaza war following the horrendous Hamas attack on October 7th. And this year we apparently reached a wider audience: two of our winners, the First Prize winner and an Honorable Mention winner, came from our Druze community. We hope this competition will reach an even wider range of schools as time goes on.
The prize-winners:
- First prize: “Harmony of Silence” by Talia Rabah, aged 16
- Second prize: “Even someone you didn’t know still thinks about you” by Hadar Yadin, aged 16
- Joint Third prize: “Unforsaken Love” by Almog Kobi, aged 16; and “Winter Friday” by Lotem Shperling, aged 15
Honourable Mentions (in alphabetical order of poem title):
- “My Safe Place” by Naya Abu-Hmeed
- “When the love dies it takes you with it” by Neomi Bechor, aged 15.
The awards event for the 5th Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize was held on April 14th, 2024. The texts of the winning poems and the Honorable Mentions may be read and downloaded here (PDF file).
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The Fourth Bar Sagi Prize (2022-2023 competition)
Administrator: Michele Bustin
Judges: Susan Bell, Itamar Blumfield, Amiel Schotz
The fourth Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize opened for submissions on November 15, 2022 and closed on February 28, 2023. We received 54 entries from 30 young poets.
The prize-winners:
- First prize: “The Little Things” by Reuth Katz, aged 14
- Second prize: “City Lights” by Shilo Aloni, aged 18
- Joint Third prize: “Feathers” by Amit Shaham, aged 15; and “Glass Skin” by Or Gordin, aged 17.
Honourable Mentions (in alphabetical order of poem title):
- “Like sin(x)” by Eyal Bechor, aged 16
- “Something very gentle” by Marta Zorin, aged 15
- “The Jewish Year” by Reut Widawsky, aged 13
- “Tomorrow, Next Week, Next Year” by Yarden Or, aged 18
The awards event for the 4th Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize was held on April 30th, 2023. The texts of the winning poems and the Honorable Mentions may be read and downloaded here (PDF file).
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The Third Bar Sagi Prize (2021-2022 competition)
Administrator: Susan Bell;
Judges: Susan Bell, Itamar Blumfield, Amiel Schotz.
The third Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize returned to its original format of being open to Israeli school students only. Of course fewer poems were received than in the previous year when the prize was open also to UK students, but the quality was high and three prizes and one Honorable Mention were awarded.
The prize-winners:
- First prize: “White Noise” by Hila (“Sapir”) Frumkin, aged 15
- Second prize: “Empty Seats” by Eliav Huppert, aged 18
- Third prize: “Comfort” by Amiad Dror Golan, aged 17
Honourable Mention: “Coral” by Hila (“Sapir”) Frumkin
The awards event for the 3rd Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize was held on April 26th, 2022. The texts of the three winning poems and the one Honorable Mention may be read and downloaded here (PDF file).
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The Second Bar Sagi Prize (2020-2021 competition)
Administrator: Susan Bell;
Judges: Susan Bell, Amiel Schotz, Itamar Blumfield.
The 2021 competition was open to Israeli school students, and also, for a trial year, to students from the UK. We received 71 poems from a total of 43 poets. In addition to the three prize-winners, six poems from five poets were awarded an Honourable Mention.
The prize-winners:
- First prize: “loving without being loved” by Aubrey McFate (pen name), aged 18
- Second prize: “I Move Forward Without Thinking” by Rafi Goldstein, aged 12
- Third prize: “Stillness” by Sigal Nachshen, aged 12
Honourable Mentions
- Hannah Sugars, aged 17: “Two minds!” and “The universe – and us”
- Natasha Alexander, aged 12: “Our Mountaintop”
- Yaara Heller, aged 12: “A wish in your heart”
- Mordechai Howie, aged 12: “Three”
- Roxana Isaacs, aged 15: “A teardrop cascaded”
The awards event for the 2nd Bar Sagi Young Poets Prize wase held on May 2, 2021. The texts of the three winning poems and six Honourable Mentions may be read here.
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The First Bar Sagi Prize (2019-2020 competition)
Administrator: Wendy Dickstein.
Judges: Susan Bell, Itamar Blumfield and Wendy Dickstein;
Consultant: award-winning poet Ricky Friesem;
Technical Advisor: Mark Levinson, administrator of the long-running Reuben Rose competition.
The Prize-winners:
- First prize: “Fading Childhood” by Ester Belokurov, age 18
- Second prize: “Doors of Life” by Yaara Heller, age 12
- Third prize: “Guide to the Traveler” by Haya Moukouri, 11th grade
Honourable Mention: “Finally, at home” by Liraz Eliszda, age 16.
To read the winning poems, the Honorable Mention, and Liraz Eliszda’s account of the background to her poem, click here (PDF file).
Voices Israel Group of Poets in English 