Srinagar: Kashmiri photo journalist, Masrat Zahra has been named the winner of the 2020 Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award.
The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) named Masrat Zahra as the winner of this year’s Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award on Thursday.
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.
“Masrat Zahra is a Kashmiri freelance photojournalist who has been working in Kashmir for the past four years. Born and raised in Srinagar’s old city into a conservative Muslim family, Zahra would often observe clashes between Indian security forces and Kashmiri protesters. Defying the wishes of her family, Zahra became a photojournalist in order to join Kashmiri journalists working tirelessly to cover the region, and its toll on local communities. 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. Zahra’s work has appeared in The Caravan, The Washington Post, TRT World, Al Jazeera, The New Humanitarian, Religion Unplugged and several other media outlets. Zahra has previously exhibited at the annual Photoville festival in New York with her portfolio, “Journalists Under Fire.” reads the statement issued by IWMF.
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