A playwright, a novelist, a professor and a literary editor are to judge the 40th Jewish Quarterly Wingate literary Prize, it has been announced.

A panel comprising award-winning playwright Amy Rosenthal, Granta Best of British Young Novelist Joanna Kavenna, Natasha Lehrer, who is the literary editor for the Jewish Quarterly and Professor Bryan Cheyette, author, reviewer and literature professor will decide next year’s winner of British Jewry’s most prestigious book award.

The annual £4,000 prize, which has previously been awarded to the likes of Amos Oz, Zadie Smith, Oliver Sacks and David Grossman, will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2017.

Run in association with JW3, the prize is given to the best book – fiction or non-fiction – to convey the idea of Jewishness to the reader.

The Wingate Prize was established in 1977 by the late Harold Hyam Wingate. It is now known as the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize and is run in association with JW3.

It is the only UK literary prize of its kind, attracting nominations from around the world.

Professor Cheyette, a Fellow of the English Association and Chair in Modern Literature at the University of Reading, said: ‘The JQ Wingate prize has a long and prestigious history. For 40 years it has celebrated the broad spectrum of talented and remarkable writers who have elevated Jewish themes, making them accessible and compelling for the general reader.”

He added: “The alumni of prize winners and past judges make a long and distinguished list. As judges for 2017 we are honoured to be part of this heritage.”

Joanna Kavenna has previously won the Orange Prize for New Writing and in 2013 was named one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists.

Natasha Lehrer is a writer, translator and critic and also the literary editor of the Jewish Quarterly. She has edited and contributed to several books and writes for, among others, the Times Literary Supplement, the Guardian, The Nation and Ha’aretz.

Amy Rosenthal’s theatre credits include Fear of Cherry Blossom, Pelican Daughters, Polar Bears, The Tailor-Made, while her radio work includes an adaptation of Jack Rosenthal’s Bar Mitzvah Boy. A film she made called That Woman was joint winner of the Pears Short Film Fund for the UK Jewish Film Festival in 2012.