The Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada invites applications for the 2020 Switzer-Cooperstock Prize in Western Canadian Jewish History. This prize, established by the Switzer family to honour parents and grandparents, will be awarded for a publishable essay on Jewish history in Western Canada with some preference for essays on secular Jewish schools in Western Canada, Jewish settlers, farmers, and traders in rural areas of Western Canada, and the immigration experience of Jews to Western Canada. Preference will be given to research specific to the Jewish experience in the urban centers and rural communities of the Canadian Prairie Provinces.
The research may use original sources or it may be a synthesis of other published material.
To apply, submit a finished but unpublished essay (work published within the last two years is also eligible) or write a letter identifying the research project, the problem to be solved, previous scholarship, the sources used, and the preliminary results. Include a CV. The deadline for applications is May 1, 2020. Applications will be considered by an academic panel and the results will be announced on or about June 1, 2020.
The winner will receive $6,000 and will present his/her findings at a public lecture in Winnipeg in Fall 2020, preferably in September. The Jewish Heritage Centre will publish the lecture in print form and/or electronically unless the winner wishes to make other arrangements.
Past winners are Prof. Theodore Friedgut, University of Jerusalem for an essay on the Lipton farm colony (2008); Prof. Lynne Marks, University of Victoria, for an essay on religion and identity in British Columbia (2010); Chana Thau, independent scholar, for an essay on growing up in small towns in Manitoba and Saskatchewan (2012); Prof. David Koffman, York University, for an essay on Jewish participation in the collecting and selling of Indigenous artefacts before the First World War (2014); Prof. Esyllt Jones, University of Manitoba, for an essay on Mindel Cherniack Sheps and the Founding of Medicare in Canada (2016); and Prof. Richard Menkis (UBC) for an essay on Rabbis J.H. Hertz and Yeshaya Horowitz and their observations of the Canadian West.
To apply or request further information, contact Mr. Stanislao Carbone, Director of Programs and Exhibits, Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada; 123 Doncaster Street; Winnipeg Canada , R3N 2B2. Email: [email protected].
University faculty please note that a $1000 prize for post-secondary students at any level (undergraduate through doctoral) has been created and will offered in 2021. The terms of reference are similar except that out-of-province students will not be required to give a public lecture in Winnipeg. Some money is available for travel.