To Apply for Shekel Prize
AINA, PO Box 20255, Fountain Hills, AZ 85269 or ainapresident@gmail.com.
It must have been published in the previous year. Deadline is March 1.
Shekel Prize Past Winners
2017 (for 2016 publication): Yoav Farhi
The first winner of the Shekel Prize is Yoav Farhi, author of “Khirbet Qeiyafa Vol. 5: Excavation Report 2007–2013, The Numismatic Finds: Coins and Related Objects.” Other contributors to this volume are C. Lorber, S. Shalev and S. Shilstein. Read more here. Other publications in the running for the 2017 Shekel Prize were “Jewish History in the Bible Portrayed in Coins” by Dr. John G. Leslie and “The New York Sale Auction XXXIX of Ancient Coins Featuring The Brody Family Collection of Ancient Jewish Coins” cataloged by Ira & Larry Goldberg, et al.
2018 (for 2017 publication): Yigal Arkin
The winner of the 2018 Shekel Prize for the best work published in 2017 on the subject of Judaean, Jewish or Holy Land numismatics is Yigal Arkin, for his book “Money Time, 70 Years of Currency in Israel. Money Time tells the story of the banknotes and coins of the State of Israel over its 70 year history, from the day of the declaration of independence on May 14, 1948. The book reviews the banknotes and coins of the British Mandate period in Palestine and those issued by the State of Israel. Backgrounds are presented about the designs, along with illustrations relating to the personalities and places depicted on Israeli and pre-state paper money and coins.Read sample pages here. The other nominees were “Israel Numismatic Research” published by the Israel Numismatic Society, “The Coinage of the First Jewish Revolt against Rome” by Robert Deutsch, and Interpreting Ancient Jewish coin Symbols by Dr. Gary Fine.
2019 (for 2018 publication): Alex Abezgauz
Alex Abezgauz is the winner of the 2019 Shekel Prize Medal for “Jewish Banknotes Based on the Collection of A. Abezgauz,” compiled by О.V. Paramonov, with the participation of Alex’s son Daniel and Alex’s wife Ellen; translated from Russian by A. Burlyga. He assembled a unduplicatable collection of Jewish related banknotes and emergency currencies of Russia, some 400 or 500 items which is a major resource for the history of the Jews in Russia, principally during the Russian Revolutionary period. Alex died a few years ago and his son arranged for the collection to be published in English and Russian, with every note illustrated in color, and with a certain amount of contextual historical information.Read more here. The other worthy competitors this year were: “The Coinage of Herod Antipas” by Aaron J. Kogon and Jean-Philippe Fontanille, and “Israel Numismatic Research” published by the Israel Numismatic Society.