HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

The Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University has announced the recipients of the 2006 Norman Podhoretz Prize in Jewish Studies and the 2006 Selma and Lewis Weinstein Prize in Jewish Studies.

Peter Ratner '07 of Winthrop House won this year's Norman Podhoretz Prize in Jewish Studies for his essay "Becoming Broadway: George S. Kaufman and American Jewish Humor." This award is given to the Harvard University student who submits the best essay, feature article, or short story on a Jewish theme. Named in honor of the editor of Commentary magazine from 1960 to 1995, the prize is sponsored by the Ernest H. Weiner Fund at the American Jewish Committee.

Quincy House's Oluwarotimi Okunade '07, meanwhile, accepted this year's Selma and Lewis Weinstein Prize in Jewish Studies for her essay "When Blacks Became Jews: the Polemic Ensuing from the Confrontation of Religion and Race." Established by Lewis H. Weinstein '27, LL.B. '30, the prize is given to the Harvard University student who submits the best undergraduate essay in Jewish studies.