The winners of this years Nobel Peace Prize were announced this morning; Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege won.

Murad is an Iraqui Yazidi who was tortured and raped by militants from the Islamic State. After escaping she became the face of a campaign to free the Yazidi people.

Dr. Mukwege is a gynecologist from Congo who has treated thousands of victims.

They won the award because of their “efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war,” said Berit Reiss-Anderson, the Nobel committee chair. Murad reacted to the award by sharing it “with all Yazidis, with all the Iraqis, Kurds, and all the minorities and all survivors of sexual violence around the world”, as stated in her speech. Dr. Mukwege found out about the award while he was operating at his hospital. He dedicated his award to all women affected by sexual violence.

The award has been given annually since 1901. The winner is selected by a five-member panel that is named by Norway’s parliament, the Storting, and is given to give to someone or a group that has done the most to advance world peace. Originally, the people and groups that were predicted to win included President Trump, Kim Jong-un, and Moon Jae-in, Carlos Puigdemont, the U.N High Commissioner for Refugees, Pope Francis, Raif Badawi, and the American Civil Liberties Union’s founding members. In total there were 331 nominees: 216 individuals and 115 organizations.