Washington
The Washington-based International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) named Kashmiri woman, Masarrat Zahra as the winner of this year’s Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award on Thursday.
The freelance photojournalist’s images depicting Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir were praised by the jury for her particular focus on the stories of women.
Zahra, who was born in Srinagar, provides an emotional insight into daily life inside occupied Kashmir with her photographs, which the jury described as filled with a sense of “dread and community.”
The award honors the memory of German photojournalist Anja Niedringhaus, who was killed in 2014 in Afghanistan. The $20,000 (€17,500) prize is awarded annually by the IWMF, which since 1990 has been fighting for press freedom and supporting courageous female journalists.
“Countless communities around the world are facing enormous threat, harm and censorship due to governmental threats and the declining state of press freedom worldwide,” said IWMF Executive Director Elisa Lees Munoz.—KMS
