19 Nov, 2025, 15:00 GMT
Non-fiction book prize awarded annually to the best English-language book about international issues
TORONTO, Nov. 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lionel Gelber Prize Board is pleased to announce the jury for the 36th Lionel Gelber Prize.
Janice Gross Stein, one of Canada's most respected experts on world politics and Founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, will chair the jury. John Bew is a former Downing Street chief foreign policy advisor, and Nina Srinivasan Rathbun is an international security expert and professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. Newly appointed for 2026 are James Steinberg, Dean of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and Sergey Radchenko, Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS and winner of the 2025 Lionel Gelber Prize.
"This panel embodies a depth of expertise and knowledge that make the Lionel Gelber Prize truly unique and exceptional." says Judith Gelber, Chair of the Lionel Gelber Prize Board.
Founded in 1989 to honour Canadian diplomat and author Lionel Gelber, the Lionel Gelber Prize rewards the world's best non-fiction book on foreign affairs published in the English language.
The author of the winning book receives $50,000 CAD. The award is presented annually by the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy.
A shortlist of five books will be announced on January 14, 2026. The winner of the Prize will be announced on March 18, 2026, with the Lionel Gelber Prize Ceremony and Lecture in April.
About the 2026 Lionel Gelber Prize Jury
Janice Gross Stein, Jury Chair (Toronto) is the University of Toronto's Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management and the Founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of Canada. Stein is also an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Senior Fellow of the Kissinger Center at SAIS at Johns Hopkins University.
John Bew (London) has served at the highest levels of the U.K. government, spending over five years as Downing Street's chief foreign policy advisor at 10 Downing Street. Bew is currently professor of history and foreign policy in the War Studies Department at King's College London, distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institute and senior advisor at the Australian National Security College. He is an internationally recognized scholar and award-winning author.
Sergey Radchenko (Cardiff) is the 2025 Lionel Gelber Prize laureate and the Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He has written extensively on the Cold War, nuclear history, and on Russian and Chinese foreign and security policies. Before he joined SAIS, Professor Radchenko worked and lived in Mongolia, China, and Wales.
James Steinberg (Washington) is the tenth Dean of SAIS. He served as Deputy Secretary of State to Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, from 2009-2011 and deputy national security advisor to President Bill Clinton from 1996 to 2000.
Nina Srinivasan Rathbun (Toronto) is a Professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She specializes in international security with a focus on multilateral nuclear nonproliferation and counterproliferation policies, as well as in European integration, political economy and democratization in post-Communist Europe, and NATO.
For more information, please visit gelber.munkschool.utoronto.ca
Contact: Lani Mae Krantz, Communications & Media Relations Specialist, lani.krantz@utoronto.ca
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