In its ninth year, the IWMF’s Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award recognizes women photojournalists who exhibit extraordinary courage and humanity in reporting from areas of instability, oppression, and conflict. The award was created in honor of German Associated Press photojournalist Anja Niedringhaus, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2014. This year’s winner is freelance photojournalist Laurence Geai; Korean American photojournalist Yunghi Kim and French photojournalist Veronique de Viguerie are also honored.

Laurence Geai | Yunghi Kim | Veronique de Viguerie

Laurence Geai | France

Laurence Geai (b.1984) has been a photojournalist since 2014. After a degree in international trade and a professional experience in the fashion industry, she decided to change her career path to become a journalist, first in television where she made several reports, then in photography. Interested in the roots of wars, she traveled to the Central African Republic, Syria, Iraq and Israel/Palestine. She tries to meet the protagonists of each conflict, whenever possible.

She is based in Paris and enjoys photographing France. Her work focuses on inequality, migration, politics, and various issues in society. In 2021, she won a World Press award for her series on covid in France. (3rd prize, general information category). She joined the agency MYOP in 2022. Laurence collaborates with several publications: Le Monde, Paris Match, Elle, Polka, La Vie, the Washington Post, La Croix Hebdo, Le Temps etc. She also reports for NGOs.

Image Captions

1. IRAQ, MOSUL, JULY 5, 2017: Civilians flee fighting in the old city of Mosul. Most of them are in bad condition. Iraqi Special Forces (ICTS) soldiers try to check that no one is wearing an explosive belt.
2. NORTHEAST SYRIA, HASSAKE, FEBRUARY 15, 2022: A woman mourns the death of a relative killed during the prison break at the Daesh prison in Hassake. Hundreds of SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) were killed.
3. UKRAINE, DONBASS REGION, SEVERODONETSK, APRIL 22, 2022: Burial of two old ladies who died alone in Severodonest. One has no family. The other’s family could not come because of the war. This city is located on the frontline and is bombed by the Russian army every day. Since last June, after hard fights, Russians have occupied this city.

Yunghi Kim | U.S., South Korea

Yunghi Kim is a photojournalist who has covered conflicts and in-depth, issue-driven stories all over the world for almost four decades. Intimate storytelling and giving a voice to her subjects through the camera remain important to her.

Kim came to the United States from her native South Korea at age 10. She graduated from Boston University in 1984 and began her career as a photographer at The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, Mass. She was the first female photographer hired in the photography department. She then went on to a position as staff photographer at The Boston Globe for seven years. Kim was a member of Contact Press Images in 1995.

Image Captions

1. BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, APRIL 28, 2023: Mourning Freddie Gray, April 28, 2015: Men mourn the death of Freddie Gray at a protest in West Baltimore. Gray died from a spinal cord injury sustained while in police custody.
2. SEOUL, KOREA, JANUARY, 9 2023: Comfort Woman, 1996. Kang Duk-kyung, 67-year old, dying from lung cancer, is too weak to get out of bed. She felt rage after hearing the Japanese government on the TV news denying involvement in, or even the existence of, Comfort Women. She decided to go public. She said to herself “I’m here and I’m a witness! They are lying!” While at one of the so-called “comfort stations”, she became pregnant and bore a son, whom she had to give up to an orphanage. Her son died in the orphanage. She never married and lived alone most of her life. The women were forced to provide 30 to 40 sexual services a day to Japanese soldiers. Most lost their virginity this way. If they resisted, they were beaten. For the Japanese Army, these women were considered “war supplies”. About 200,000 women from Asia, are believed to have been forced into sexual slavery.
3. RWANDA, AUGUST 31, 2023: Rwanda Refugees. Return to Rhuengeri, (Rwanda) 1996 – Yolanda Mugeni hugs her mother-in-law Angeline Iradukunda upon her arrival at the family home in Rhuengeri, Rwanda, after two years in exile in neighboring Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Yolanda’s journey started two weeks before. Her husband was among tens of thousands who died of diseases like Cholera in the refugee camps of Goma. She remained with her children while caring for her neighbors’ children who were by then also orphaned. The genocide killed over 800,000 Rwandans.

Veronique de Viguerie | France

Veronique de Viguerie is a multi-awarded French photojournalist represented by Getty Reportage and Verbatim Photo Agency and is based in Paris. de Viguerie began her study of photojournalism in England following the completion of a master’s degree in law in France. She spent three years working in Afghanistan and since 2006, has covered stories from Iraq, Somalia, Lebanon, Kashmir, Mexico, Algeria, Guatemala, Pakistan, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Syria and other locations. de Viguerie’s work, “Afghanistan Insh’Allah,” was exhibited in Visa pour l’Image in Perpignan, in Paris and at the Scoop Festival in Angers; “The Oil War in Nigeria” was exhibited at the Bayeux festival for the war correspondents. Her pictures are regularly published in Paris-Match, the New York Times, Newsweek, El Pais, Stern, Der Spiegel, Figaro Magazine, Geo, Marie Claire, Mail on Sunday, the Guardian and l’Optimum, among other outlets.

de Viguerie also received wide recognition for photographing the Taliban in Afghanistan, pirates in Somalia, oil pirates in Nigeria and the Sicaraias (women killers) in Colombia and the Mouvement National pour la Libération de l’Azawad (MNLA) in Mali.
In 2006 de Viguerie published her first book, “Afghanistan, Regards Croises,” with Marie Bourreau. She’s since published “Carnets de Reportage du XXIe siècle” in 2011 and “Profession: Reporter” – again with Manon Querouil Bruneel – in 2015. In 2012, de Viguerie was chosen as one of the three photographers by HBO for the documentary series Witness based on her work following the Arrow Boys in South Sudan.

Image Captions

1. KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN, APRIL 4, 2007: Malalai Kakar’s police ladies in Kandahar, the historical birthplace of the Taliban, are chasing abusive people and gathering intelligence against the rebellion.
2. HERAT, AFGHANISTAN, MAY 16, 2006: At Herat Hospital, a 20-year-old girl, Gulalai just arrived. She burnt herself with fuel in front of her husband’s eyes. 90% of her body is badly burnt leaving her without a chance to survive. In the last two months, the hospital received many cases of self-immolation and 12 women died of it. Gulalai, a mother of one and 2 months pregnant, was abused every day by her husband Gulam, who had been arrested for investigation. Last night, Gulam beat Gulalai up once more. Desperate, she immolated herself. Her mother, Zalikhal, is trying to comfort her daughter who is in extreme pain.
3. JALABAD, AFGHANISTAN, NOVEMBER 6, 2019: Her grandmother is closing the eyes of 2-month-old ‘Hajyra forever. With her daughter, they brought Hajyra to the Jalalabad Hospital too late. They were not able to bring her before because the roads were very dangerous. ISIS, Taliban and Afghan National Army are fighting in the region, terrorizing civilians. The ward for malnourished children is completely full.

The 2023 Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Awards are made possible by:

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