Meet Our Judges
Henrik Krogius
Henrik Krogius is the past editor of the Heights Press, an old and venerable weekly newspaper focused on news about Brooklyn Heights, downtown Brooklyn and beyond. Articles written by Joseph Mohbat for the Heights Press were considered by some to be among the best the paper published.
Henrik is the author of The Brooklyn Heights Promenade, the first book to delve into the curious history of that very visible project.
He is currently working on a history of the Brooklyn Bridge Park
Patti Sullivan
Patti Sullivan was a screenwriter in the Hollywood film world for 26 years. She wrote, pitched and sold mostly original content, adapted works by well-known authors like Joyce Carol Oates and did many rewrites for actors familiar to us.
She has written and sold pilots for major directors and taught a graduate film seminar at NYU with John Schlesinger on how writers and directors collaborate to make a story come to life on film.
She taught seniors at YABC second chance school in Canarsie, Brooklyn and this summer is teaching creative writing to women prisoners on Rikers Island.
Askia Egashira
Askia Egashira is a dedicated teacher of English at Benjamin Banneker Academy, a public high school in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.
Prior to returning to teach high school English at Banneker, he taught and pursued graduate studies at Brooklyn College.
Askia was instrumental in helping launch the Mohbat Prize in honor of Verdery Knights, who was a senior at Banneker and a protégé of Joseph Mohbat. Askia was Verdery Knights’ English teacher for two of her three high school years
The founding president of the Brooklyn Community Foundation where she led a major investment initiative in support of exceptional and promising not-for-profit organizations in Brooklyn.
Her philanthropic career was preceded by a long career in urban planning, where among many responsibilities, she oversaw the development of a watershed protection plan for NYC’s vast water system.
Writing has played an important part in her many professional roles. The writings of young people came to her attention at BCF, which funded young writers’ scholarship projects. The Mohbat Prize is administered by the Brooklyn Community Foundation as the Mohbat Fund.
