Advisors and Judges
2017-2023

  • Executive Director, Sharing Sacred Spaces. For more than 25 years, Vanessa has been a pioneer, scholar and architect of interfaith relations, interreligious literacy, and building pluralistic communities of caring, trust, and civic action.

    Vanessa has been regularly recognized for the foresight and innovation that has helped her to see ways of educating and designing interreligious programs to strengthen communities, build safer neighborhoods, and grow grassroots networks that seed peace.

    In addition to leading Sharing Sacred Spaces, Vanessa is Lecturer in Interfaith Engagement at Yale Divinity School, a Fellow at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, and author of numerous articles on world religions, interfaith understanding, organizational culture, and religion, (non)violence, and peace.

    Vanessa Avery serves as advisor.

  • S. E. Cupp is a CNN political commentator and practical conservative with a distinct outlook. Cupp most recently hosted CNN's SE Cupp Unfiltered, a weekly program covering the white-hot intersection of politics and media. Prior to that she led a panel-driven show on the HeadLine News cable network that debated impactful contemporary issues. Leading up to her move to CNN and HLN, Cupp hosted S.E. Cupp's Outside with Insiders, a digital series on CNN.com where she took political insiders to the great outdoors. Cupp also co-hosted Crossfire on CNN, the relaunched political debate program with panelists Newt Gingrich, Stephanie Cutter and Van Jones. Before joining CNN in 2013, Cupp co-hosted MSNBC's roundtable show, The Cycle.

    Cupp is a nationally syndicated political columnist, culture critic, author, and consultant. She writes regularly for the New York Daily News, Glamour and CNN.com. Cupp penned Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media's Attack on Christianity and co-authored Why You're Wrong About the Right with Brett Joshpe. She consulted to Apple TV+'s The Morning Show starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell and HBO's hit series, The Newsroom. She has been a contributor to The Blaze's Real News and contributing editor for Townhall Magazine. 

    A native of Massachusetts, Cupp is a graduate of Cornell University where she serves as an advisory member for their Institute of Politics and Global Affairs and earned a master's degree from New York University. In her free time, Cupp enjoys hunting, fishing, and camping with her family. She is married with one son.

    S.E. Cupp serves as advisor and was a judge in 2021.

  • Endy M. Bayuni, is an Indonesian journalist with nearly four decades of experience. He is senior editor and advisor to the Board of Editors of the English-language news media The Jakarta Post. He served as its editor-in-chief in 2004-2010 and in 2016-2018. He now writes commentaries on topics such as Indonesia’s transformation to democracy and its international relations, the role of political Islam and the changing media landscape — which are published in The Jakarta Post and international publications, including Nikkei Asia and Strait Times of Singapore.

    In May 2020, he was appointed to the inaugural independent Oversight Board for Facebook. He sits on various other boards, including TIFA Foundation, Yayasan Humanis dan Inovasi Sosial (Hivos Indonesia), the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), the Conversation Indonesia, and the International Association of Religion Journalists (IARJ).

    He is recipient of the East West Center Senior Fellowship at the Washington DC office in 2010, the Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University in 2003-2004, and the Jefferson Fellowship at the East West Center of the University of Hawaii in 1999. He received his bachelor of arts degree in economics at Kingston University in the UK in 1981.

    Endy M. Bayuni serves as advisor.

  • Diana Eck is Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies; Fredric Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; and Member of the Faculty of Divinity at Harvard University. Eck’s work in the U.S. focuses especially on the challenges of religious pluralism in a multi-religious society.

    Since 1991, she has headed the Harvard Pluralism Project, which explores and interprets religious dimensions of America's new immigration; the growth of Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, and Zoroastrian communities in the United States; and the new issues of religious pluralism and American civil society.

    The Pluralism Project's award-winning On Common Ground: World Religions in America, was published in 1997; her book A New Religious America: How a "Christian Country" Has Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation was published in 2001. Her book Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey From Bozeman to Banaras is in the area of Christian theology and interfaith dialogue. It won the Grawemeyer Book Award in 1995, and a 10th-anniversary edition was published in 2003.

    Diane Eck serves as advisor and was also a judge in 2017.

  • Samuel G. Freedman is an award winning author, former columnist and staff reporter for The New York Times, and currently a tenured professor at Columbia University School of Journalism. He is the author of the nine acclaimed books.

    Freedman has contributed to The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Daily Beast, New York, Rolling Stone, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Buzzfeed, Salon, Slate, Chicago Sun-Times, Tablet, The Forward, Ha’aretz, The Undefeated, The Root, and BeliefNet. Most recently, Freedman wrote Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: The Journey From Stage to Screen, the companion book to the film adaptation of August Wilson’s classic play. His book Jew vs. Jew won the National Jewish Book Award for Non-Fiction in 2001 and made the Publishers Weekly Religion Best-Sellers list. As a result of the book, Freedman was named one of the “Forward Fifty” most important American Jews in the year 2000 by the weekly Jewish newspaper The Forward.

    Freedman holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which he received in May 1977. He lives in New York with his wife, Christia Chana Blomquist.

    Samuel Freedman serves as advisor and was also a judge in 2019.

  • Ari L. Goldman taught at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism for more than 30 years, until his retirement from the classroom in 2004. Goldman taught the popular Covering Religion seminar that has taken students on study tours to meet Israelis, Palestinians, Ukrainians, Irish, Italians, Indians and Russians. Goldman continues to direct the Scripps Howard Program in Religion, Journalism and the Spiritual Life. He is a former reporter for the New York Times.

    Goldman is the author of four books, including the best-selling memoir The Search for God at Harvard and The Late Starters Orchestra. Goldman was educated at Yeshiva University, Columbia and Harvard. He has been a Fulbright Professor in Israel, a Skirball Fellow at Oxford University in England and a scholar-in-residence at Stern College for Women, Yeshiva University.

    Ari Goldman served as a Goldziher judge in 2019, 2021 and 2023.

  • Aymann Ismail is a 2019 Goldziher Prize-winner. He is a Slate.com Staff Writer / Podcast Host & Producer, as well as a video editor and photographer. His work focuses on how identity and religion interact with politics. He wrote and produced Who's Afraid of Aymann Ismail?, a video series that moves beyond stereotypes of both American Muslims and their self-professed adversaries, finding hope and fault in both.

    Aymann currently hosts "Man Up," a weekly interview podcast on Slate about men, relationships, family, race, and sex. He's been featured on CNN, Adweek, GQ, HuffPost, and NPR, and holds a BFA in Visual Arts and Film from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick.

    Aymann Ismail served as a Goldziher judge in 2023.

  • Yehezkel Landau, a dual Israeli-American citizen, is an international interfaith educator, author, and leadership trainer, working to promote Jewish-Christian-Muslim engagement and Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding for more than 40 years.  While living in Jerusalem, he directed the OZ veSHALOM-NETIVOT SHALOM religious peace movement during the 1980's, and from 1991 to 2003 he co-founded and co-directedOpen House Center for Jewish-Arab Coexistence and Reconciliation, in Ramle.

    From 2002 to 2016, Dr. Landau was a professor of Jewish tradition and interfaith relations at Hartford Seminary, where he held the Chair and directed the Building Abraham Partnershipsprogram for Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

    Landau has authored numerous journal articles, co-edited the book VOICES FROM JERUSALEM: JEWS AND CHRISTIANS REFLECT ON THE HOLY LAND (Paulist Press, 1992), wrote a Jewish appraisal of Pope John Paul II’s trip to Israel and Palestine in 2000 for the book JOHN PAUL II IN THE HOLY LAND: IN HIS OWN WORDS (Paulist Press, 2005), and authored a U. S. Institute of Peace research report:Healing the Holy Land: Interreligious Peacebuilding in Israel/Palestine.

    Landau earned an A.B. from Harvard University, an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School, and a D. Min. from Hartford Seminary.www.landau-interfaith.com, and can be reached at yehezkel@landau-interfaith.com

    Yehezkel Landau serves as advisor and was also a judge in 2017.

  • Farhan Latif is President of the El-Hibri Foundation, providing strategic leadership. He previously served as the Chief Operating Officer & Director of Policy Impact at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU). During his time at ISPU, Latif worked with White House, Department of State, and Department of Homeland Security officials on a range of domestic and foreign policy issues.

    Prior to ISPU, he spent over a decade in higher education working at the intersection of building a culture of philanthropy and enabling access for underrepresented, low income, and first generation students. As a social entrepreneur, he founded Strategic Inspirations, a social impact-consulting firm focused on strengthening the ability of nonprofit organizations to build capacity, create a culture of learning, catalyze innovation through philanthropy, and maximize impact.

    As an interfaith leader, Latif worked with state and national faith-based organizations to promote religious understanding and inclusion. He holds an M.A. from Harvard University and a degree in Business Management and Marketing with graduate work in nonprofit management at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. 

    Farhan Latif serves as advisor and was also a Goldziher judge in 2017.

  • Anisa Mehdi is Executive Director of the Abraham Path Initiative, an NGO that creates walking trails that brings people together to  experience the hospitality of the region commonly called “the Middle East.” Her coverage of local, national and global affairs has appeared on CBS, PBS’s Frontline, ABC's Nightline, NPR, andStratfor.com. She has won two Emmy Awards, a Cine Golden Eagle, and numerous awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. Mehdi is the first American to cover the Hajj pilgrimage on location in Saudi Arabia. She produced and directed National Geographic's acclaimed Inside Mecca and directed "The Hajj" for PBS's "Sacred Journeys with Bruce Feiler."  

    Mehdi consulted for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) and the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. She was a 2009-2010 Fulbright Scholar in Jordan, and serves on the board of the Esalen Institute. Mehdi writes about faith, culture, and politics, about her father, Dr. Mohammad T. Mehdi, an Iraqi-American expert on Palestine, and is an accomplished flutist. She has an MA  in Journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a Certificate in Jewish-Christian Studies from Seton Hall University. Mehdi is an alumna of Wellesley College.

    Anisa Mehdi serves as advisor and was also a Goldziher judge in 2017.

  • Khawla Nakua, is a freelance criminal justice reporter who covers prison conditions, and the treatment of Incarcerated Muslims. Her work has been featured on Mother Jones Magazine, Slate Magazine, Truthout and Scalawag Magazine. She received the Goldziher Prize for Journalists due to her reporting on the treatment of Muslims in prisons.

  • Manya Brachear Pashman pioneered the religion and journalism dual masters’ program at Columbia University, followed by 15+ years of reporting and editing stories with local, national or international significance and more than a decade of training young and aspiring journalists. Fluent in most audio/video editing applications and all social media platforms. Implemented an ambitious nonprofit strategic plan for the Religion News Foundation and led efforts to diversify and professionalize its board. Negotiated exclusive access and mined data for Page One stories. Discussed religion headlines in dozens of television and radio segments. Now writes about antisemitism around the globe, co-host a weekly podcast on global affairs through a Jewish lens, and teaches aspiring reporters how to cover religion responsibly.

    Manya Brachear Pashman

  • Carla Power is the author of “Home, Land, Security: Deradicalization and the Journey Back from Extremism,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2022; and “If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran,” a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award finalist. She began her journalism career reporting from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Her reportage and essays have appeared in a wide range of publications, including Time, Newsweek, Foreign Policy, The New York Times Magazine, and The Guardian. “The Lady Imam,” her biography of the Islamic feminist theologian amina wadud, is due out from Penguin/Random House imprint One World in 2026. Power is currently at work on a memoir, “Child of Empire: The Making of an American Imperialist.”

    Power graduated from Yale and went on to get an M.Phil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, and a degree from Columbia University School of Journalism. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, she spent much of her childhood living in Iran, India, Afghanistan, Egypt and Italy. Today, she lives in London.

    Carla Power served as a Goldziher judge in 2023.

  • Aziz Abu Sarah is a peacebuilder, social entrepreneur, author, international speaker.  A Palestinian American, raised in Jerusalem, Aziz is a National Geographic Explorer and TED Fellow.  His journey from seeking revenge to peacemaker has led to innovations through tourism in conflict zones. He co-founded MEJDI Tours with Scott Cooper, a Jewish American. MEJDI employs are multi-narrative approach to travel all over the world. Their work originated in Israel and Palestine and has expanded to other countries—reaping remarkable results.

    Aziz speaks at international organizations, corporations, and universities, including the Vatican, the United Nations,  the European Parliament, Georgetown, Yale, and Harvard. He has written for The New York Times, National Geographic, Haaretz, and The Jerusalem Post.  Aziz regularly appears on CNN, Fox, and Aljazeera. He is the recipient of the Goldberg Prize for Peace in the Middle East from the Institute of International Education, the European Parliament’s Silver Rose Award, the Eisenhower Medallion, and the Eliav-Sartawi Award for his Middle Eastern Journalism. He was named one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the World by the Royal Strategic Centre in Jordan each year from 2010 to 2024 and  won the Intercultural innovation award from the UN Alliance of Civilizations and the BMW Group. He was also recognized by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon for his work in peacebuilding.

    Most recently, with Jewish Israeli Maoz Inon, Aziz co-founded Interact whose goals are to:  

    • Challenge communities to collaboratively tackle hatred, violence, oppression, and war.

    • Increase empathy for multiple narrative conflict zones to overcome fear and hatred. 

    • Combat the rise of Antisemitism and Islamophobia, by humanizing both Jews and Palestinians through personal storytelling. 

    • Amplify voices of peacemakers’ work, through traditional and social media.

    • Provide support — aid & scholarships -- to families brutalized by conflict.

    Aziz Abu Sarah serves as advisor.

  • Mansoor Shams is a U.S. Marine Veteran, public speaker, and term member on the Council on Foreign Relations. He founded MuslimMarine.org with the tagline: unifying people through conversation, as a platform of both “Muslim" and “Marine,” creating channels for cross cultural connections, and countering hate, bigotry, and Islamophobia through education and dialogue.

    Mansoor served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he attained the rank of corporal (non-commissioned officer) and received several honors including a meritorious promotion, Marine of the Quarter and Certificate of Commendation.

    Mansoor has been featured on PBS, NPR, BBC, Voice of America, New York Times, and more, and has made national TV appearances as a commentator on CNN and MSNBC. Engagements include the National Security Agency (NSA), US Marine Corps, police and state government as well as colleges and universities across America.

    Mansoor has also led various various national initiatives including the 29/29 Ramadan Initiative where he teamed up with Veterans For American Ideals to have military veterans spend a night at the home of Muslim families across America during Ramadan to encourage fellow Americans to get out of there comfort zones to get to know each other. He also carried a simple sign across 25 states across America: “I’m a Muslim and US Marine, ask me anything.”

    Mansoor holds a master's degree in government and an MBA from The Johns Hopkins University.

    Mansoor Shams served as a Goldziher judge in 2023.

  • Charles J. Sykes is one of the most influential conservatives in Wisconsin. Until he stepped down in December after 23 years, Sykes was one of the state’s top-rated talk show hosts. He is currently an MSNBC contributor.

    Sykes is also author of eight books, including A Nation of Victims, Dumbing Down Our Kids, Profscam, The Hollow Men, The End of Privacy, 50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School, A Nation of Moochers, and Fail U. The False Promise of Higher Education; and How the Right Lost Its Mind. He was co-editor of the National Review College Guide.

    Sykes has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, Salon, USA Today, National Review, The Weekly Standard and other national publications. He has appeared on the Today Show, ABC, NBC, Fox News, CNN, PBS, the BBC, and has been profiled on NPR. He has also spoken extensively on university campuses.

    Charles Sykes serves as advisor and was also a judge in 2019 and 2021.

  • Diane Winston holds the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and teaches on the faculties of Journalism, Communication and Religion.

    Her courses examine religion as it relates to journalism, visual media, American history and foreign policy.  Her research interests include religion, politics and the news media; media coverage of changing Christianities, and religion and the entertainment media. She is the publisher ofReligion Dispatches, an award-winning daily online magazine of religion, politics and culture.

    Between 1983 and 1995, Winston covered religion at the Raleigh News and Observer, the Dallas Times Herald and the Baltimore Sun and contributed to the Dallas Morning News. She has won numerous press association awards and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her work in Raleigh, Dallas and Baltimore. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

    Winston has a Ph.D. in Religion from Princeton University; a Master’s degrees from Harvard Divinity School and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and  B.A. from Brandeis University.

    Diane Winston serves as advisor and was also a judge in 2017.

  • Like you, I have been absolutely harrowed by the events -- in Israel, in Gaza, in the U.S. So much positive work, decades of work, felt like it got incinerated in an instant. For that very reason, though, the 2025 shift in direction for the prize seems urgent and necessary.

    Samuel Freedman

  • The Goldziher Prize honors journalists who practice the art of empathetic storytelling to overcome the fear that keeps different faith communities—especially Muslims and Jews—estranged. Humanizing journalism is a powerful force for peace, justice, and reconciliation.

    Yehezkel Landau