Members of the rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army, led by Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW), defend a mountain from the Sudanese government forces in Central Darfur, Sudan, March 4, 2015 © Adriane Ohanesian
The award was set up in tribute to Anja Niedringhaus, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press photographer who was killed when an Afghan policeman opened fire on a car in which she was travelling in April 2014.
This year’s winner of the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award was today named as Adriane Ohanesian, a freelance photojournalist based in Nairobi, Kenya who has documented conflicts including the civil war in South Sudan.
London-based photographer Lynsey Addario won an honourable mention.
Ohanesian – who wins a $20,000 prize to support ongoing work – said: ‘At the end of the day, it’s not about me; it’s about the lives of people in the pictures.
‘My photographs document what I’ve seen in isolated areas of the world. I hope the people I photograph feel that these photos communicate their circumstances to the outside world.
‘It takes a massive amount of trust on the part of my subjects to know that I’m accurately representing them and their story.’
The Sudan Liberation Army led by Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW) climb towards the front lines in the last rebel-held territory in Central Darfur, Sudan, March 4, 2015 © Adriane Ohanesian
Leading photo editors on the judging panel praised Ohanesian for her ‘evocative images and tenacious dedication to documenting the effects of conflict on citizens in perilous regions’.
They added that ‘her perceptive, compassionate eye offers an extraordinary personal glimpse into the places the global community may not otherwise see’.
Women and children sit outside of a cave where they have fled to escape bombing by the Sudanese government’s forces insides of rebel-held territory in Central Darfur, Sudan, March 2, 2015 © Adriane Ohanesian
Men believed to be members of al Shabaab sit in the street after being arrested by Somali National Intelligence during a cordon and search operation in Mogadishu, Somalia, May 4, 2014 © Adriane Ohanesian
Hundreds of women and children who have fled the fighting or are seeking shelter from the continued bombing by the Sudanese government’s forces, live in a cave in Central Darfur, Sudan, March 2, 2015 © Adriane Ohanesian
A mother who has fled the war in Yemen with her three children, comforts her baby who is sick and cannot get access to medicine in the refugee camp in Obock, Djibouti, January 13, 2015 © Adriane Ohanesian
Marra Mountains of Darfur, Sudan – March 5, 2015: Adriane photographs the Sudan Liberation
Army, the rebel group led by Abdul Wahid © Adriane Ohanesian
