The National Jewish Book Awards is the longest-running North American awards program of its kind in the field of Jewish literature and is recognized as the most prestigious. The awards, presented by category, are designed to give recognition to outstanding books, to stimulate writers to further literary creativity and to encourage the reading of worthwhile titles.

The National Jewish Book Awards program began in 1950 when the Jewish Book Council presented awards to authors of Jewish books at its annual meeting. The first book awarded the prize was Philo: Foundations of Religious Philosophy in Judaism, Christianity and Islam by Harry Austryn Wolfson. Among the past notable literary winners are Sonia Levitin, Howard Fast, Chaim Grade, Samuel Heilman, John Hersey, Bernard Malamud, Cynthia Ozick, Chaim Potok, Arthur A. Cohen, Philip Roth, I.B. Singer, Michael Chabon, Lauren Belfer, and Elie Wiesel.

In addition to the category awards, every year since 2002, one non-fiction book has been selected as the winner of the Everett Family Foundation Jewish Book of the Year Award. The last winner was Daniel Gordis. With such prominent, influential thinkers participating in the program, the awards have a significant impact on American Jewish cultural life.

The Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature is an annual prize awarded by the Jewish Book Council to an outstanding literary work of Jewish interest.