Jay Payleitner – Honored with the 2026 MAX Award for His Contribution to Responsible Fatherhood
Jay Payleitner, a Chicago-area author and speaker, has received the 2026 MAX Award in the Work category for his long-standing contribution to building a culture of conscious, present, and responsible fatherhood.
The MAX Award was established by Tato.Net in 2014 to honor people, institutions, and creative works that make a meaningful contribution to promoting and strengthening responsible fatherhood. Its name and form refer to St. Maximilian Kolbe, who gave his life at Auschwitz in place of another prisoner who was a father of a family. The award is presented by the Tato.Net International Program Council.
Jay Payleitner lives in the Chicago area with his wife, Rita. They raised five children, cared for foster babies, and today enjoy grandparenthood. Jay is also a long-time affiliate of the National Center for Fathering and a nationally known speaker on fatherhood, marriage, family life, and personal growth.
Fatherhood needs knowledge, but knowledge alone is not enough.
The greatest challenges usually appear in everyday life: when we make a mistake, react badly, do not know what to say to our child, or begin to wonder whether we are good enough as fathers.
This is where Jay Payleitner’s work has particular value.
For more than two decades, Jay has written not only about fathers, but above all for fathers. As the author of more than 40 books, with more than 750,000 copies sold and translations into many languages, he has helped fill an important gap in family literature. His books translate knowledge about fatherhood into concrete attitudes and decisions: keeping one’s word, listening, spending time together, staying emotionally present, and being willing to repair a relationship after mistakes have been made.
This practical character of his writing is especially valuable. Jay does not offer fathers an abstract ideal of perfection. Instead, he helps men deal with real-life fatherhood: uncertainty, failure, disappointment, low confidence, and the fear that they may not be “good enough.”
His message is both demanding and hopeful: responsible fatherhood does not require a flawless record. It requires a willingness to learn, to return after failure, and to keep rebuilding the bond with one’s child.
Jay’s work has reached hundreds of thousands of readers around the world and has helped strengthen a culture in which fathers are given their rightful place not only in family life, but also in literature and public conversation.
The 2026 MAX Award is an expression of gratitude for this body of work – and for consistently reminding fathers that they can learn, they can make mistakes, and they can return to the relationship. What matters most is not giving up on presence and responsibility for the bond with one’s child.
