Jemal Nebez Award
Dear visitors of this website,
Dear friends of the Jemal Nebez Foundation !
With this award, which is presented at irregular intervals—at best every two years—we honor the exceptional character of Jemal Nebez and his life’s work by identifying suitable candidates and presenting them with the Jemal Nebez Award: individuals, groups, or projects that are capable of making, or have already made, significant contributions to the Kurdish culture and Kurdistan.
Regarding Jemal Nebez’s achievements, those who need introductory information on this topic may also refer to the preamble to our bylaws on this page. The website jemalnebez.org/literature, which we continue to maintain, also contains an overview of his works published between 1955 and 2017, accompanied by thumbnail images.
Our solution for identifying and selecting candidates
In the spring of 2022, we engaged in extensive discussions on the topic with Sirwan S. Renas from Rojhelat/East Kurdistan and ultimately offered him the opportunity to oversee the organization of the selection and award process for the 1st JN Prize. We agreed that guidelines for the process needed to be developed and that a JN Award Committee should be formed to assist him in the subsequent process, which he successfully accomplished in the course of 2022.
The JN Award has been awarded twice so far, in 2023 and 2025
All JN Award winners are outstanding in their own way
In the spring of 2023, the Award Committee had made its selection, and the Board of Directors approved it. Following the recipient’s consent, her name and an initial explanation for her selection were announced on this website :
Zara Mohammadi from Rojhelat/East Kurdistan, 2023 JN Award Recipient
Not only is Zara a woman who has for years put her expertise as a licensed teacher to work in the service of the Kurdish language and its further development, but she has done so during these difficult times and within the Islamic Republic of Iran. There, in her homeland, she has also advocated for the right of her fellow Kurdish citizens to live their Kurdish identity freely..
The actual award ceremony took place in December 2023 in the presence of her sister, who accepted the award on her behalf. Zara Mohammadi herself sent us a video message.
Zara was also a fitting choice because Jemal Nebez—much like Zara—had been active decades earlier, though in his home region of Bashur/South Kurdistan. For a time he worked as a licensed high school teacher in Iraq. In his spare time and using materials he developed himself, he taught Kurdish students physics and mathematics in their native language. Jemal Nebez knew back then that investing in education and knowledge, and generously utilizing one’s own resources, is always a step forward. Zara knows this too. We hold her in high esteem.
During his time as organizer, Sirwan Renas proposed a wonderful addition to the JN Award process, which he had conceived together with the award committee. The award money offered by the foundation could also be supplemented by donations. Such donations, however, must be made to the foundation’s account and earmarked for the specific purpose. They then would be paid out together with the award money. The foundation increased the award money to 2,000 Euros in 2023. After donations totalling 2,000 Euros had been collected, the total award money was brought to 4,000 Euros in 2023.
A passion for science and specialized knowledge of Yezidism:
Professor Khanna Omarkhali, 2025 JN Award Winner
After Sirwan was appointed to the foundation’s board in the spring of 2024, he stepped down from his role as JN Award organizer and nominated a member of the prize committee to succeed him: Fexriye Adsay from Amed/Diyarbekir in Bakur/Northern Kurdistan. The early-retired teacher, licensed in Turkey, has made a name for herself in her homeland as a journalist, translator, and presenter. In the summer of 2024, during a stay of several days in Berlin, Fexriye was interviewed by the board regarding the tasks ahead of her and was ultimately appointed, with the freedom to organize the prize committee that would assist her. It turned out that some of the members of the award committee assembled by Sirwan continued under her leadership, and there was also a new addition: Shano Mate from Bakur/Northern Kurdistan.
In February/March 2025, Fexriye Adsay and her prize committee shortlisted Professor Khanna Omarkhali as the second JN Prize winner and ultimately selected her. With the board’s approval, the result was announced on Newroz 2025 :
Professor Khanna Omarkhali, who was born in the South Caucasus, belongs to the Yazidi religious community, and has firsthand experience of the difficulties that people from minority backgrounds constantly face. She began her academic career in Russia at Saint Petersburg State University, where she studied Iranian philology and religious studies and earned her Ph.D. in religious studies in 2006. After a period of teaching and research at the University of Göttingen, she completed her postdoctoral dissertation there on the codification of Yazidi religious texts. Since 2019, Khanna Omarkhali has been a professor at the Institute of Iranian Studies at Freie Universität Berlin.
Khanna was also a good choice because Jemal Nebez—through his academic work in connection with the United Theological Seminars at the University of Göttingen—had arrived at a new assessment of the religious communities typically found in Kurdistan, which were then referred to in Europe as “pseudo-Muslim sects.” And at Freie Universität Berlin, Jemal Nebez held a temporary assistant professorship at the Institute of Iranian Studies. He would have liked to see Kurdology established as a course of study in the university’s curriculum. This is still not the case.
Now the selection and awarding of the 3rd JN Prize is next.
We would like to thank Fexriye for her time as organizer of the JN Prize and are currently looking for candidates who would like to take on this role in connection with the 3rd JN Prize.
If you would like to serve as the organizer of the next JN Award and believe you have the necessary skills and qualifications, please contact us by email.
In preparing for the third award ceremony, we are building on the experience gained from the first and second ceremonies. In principle, we will adhere to the existing procedures and guidelines, but we are open to additions or adjustments that the person ultimately responsible for the process may wish to propose.
