For 30 years the James Aronson Awards for Social Justice Journalism has honored some of the best and the bravest journalists. Starting in 2025, in lieu of an application process, the recipient is decided by a committee of renown journalists and educators.
On November 19th, 2025, the Aronson Awards honored Mohammed R. Mhawish.
Mohammed has chronicled life in Gaza in a trove of eloquent war writings. His first-hand accounts of what it’s like to live through war are seared into the minds and hearts of thousands of readers across the globe. He has become a world-renowned war correspondent and journalist with a huge following, writing for The New Yorker and New York Magazine among other outlets. Through months of unspeakable trauma, suffering, seeking shelter, trying to find food and avoid bombs and bullets, he never stopped writing. Despite the worst communication obstacles, he managed to send off his dispatches to Al Jazeera, The Nation, +972, and whoever else would publish his words.
Mhawish's reporting is compelling not only because it is beautiful and precise, but because it speaks from inside horrific conditions, giving voice to how war is experienced in the body and the spirit. Mohammed's reporting continually amplifies many other Palestinian voices, including his unforgettable interviews with health workers and caregivers in Gaza, and with mothers, children, taxi drivers, vendors and more. His grief-stricken acknowledgments of the hundreds of his fellow journalists who have been killed. For Mhawish, personal memoir, interviews, political critique, analysis, observations, and feelings are parts of a seamless fabric of lived reality. His work exemplifies great social justice journalism.
We are honored to present the 2025 The James Aronson Awards for Social Justice Journalism to Mohammed R. Mhawish.
(pics: Mohammed R. Mhawish with Hunter College President Nancy Cantor, Florencia Arozarena (Hunter College Student) with Mohammed R. Mhawish, Provost Manoj Pardasani (L) and Dean Erica Chito Childs (R) Mohammed R. Mhawish (middle))
Mohammed R. Mhawish speech (pdf)
The James Aronson Committee
Tami Gold
David Alm
Sissel McCarthy
Blanca Vazquez (Deceased)