SRINAGAR: Kashmiri women photographer, Masarat Zehra who was in news for being summoned for sharing her work on social media bagged Anja Niedringhaus award for 2020 that carries honouring her publicly and a cash prize of US $ 20,000, International Women’s Media Foundation said today.
The Foundation acknowledged Zahra’s work that has earlier appeared in The Caravan, The Washington Post, TRT World, Al Jazeera, The New Humanitarian, Religion Unplugged and several other media outlets. “Today, as one of a small group of women photojournalists in the region, Zahra now faces consistent resistance based on her profession and her gender,” the Foundation said. “Zahra has previously exhibited at the annual Photoville festival in New York with her portfolio, “Journalists Under Fire.”
The Foundation manages the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award that was created to honour the life and work of Pulitzer Prize-winning AP photographer and IWMF Courage in Journalism Award winner Anja Niedringhaus (1965-2014). “With this Award, the IWMF celebrates the courageous work of women photojournalists like Anja. The Award recognizes the importance of visual journalistic work that inspires us to take action and compels us to better understand the world. Created in 2014 with a $1 million gift from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the Award will be given annually to a woman photojournalist whose work reflects courage and dedication, as Anja’s does. The Award winner will be publicly honoured, have her work showcased, and receive a cash prize of $20,000,” the Foundation said.
Zehra was recently in the news when the police summoned her for sharing her own work on social media. A case was registered against her.
This season, this is the second major international award that was bagged by Kashmir journalists. Earlier, three Jammu and Kashmir photographers – all from the Associated Press – bagged the coveted Pulitzer Prize. These included Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand who work in feature photography for covering Jammu and Kashmir during post-August 2019 shutdown was adjudged to be the best of all the participants in that category.
