Sarah Aziza, winner of the 2025 Krause Essay Prize for the essay “The Work of the Witness," will be honored at the Krause Essay Prize award ceremony on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, 7:30 p.m., at the University of Iowa Old Capitol Senate Chambers. During the celebration, Aziza will receive the Prize’s $10,000 award and an inscribed walnut letterbox. A dessert reception and conversation with NWP faculty will follow.

Aziza’s winning essay originally appeared in the January 2024 issue of Jewish Currents.

Made possible by the Kyle J. and Sharon Krause Family Foundation, and run by the NWP, the Krause Essay Prize is awarded annually to the work that best exemplifies the art of essaying. Open to projects in any genre, medium, or form, the Krause Essay Prize stretches the definition of “essaying” in order to celebrate work that is defined by what it does — the activity that it engages in — rather than what it is. This event is open to the public.