International News agency Associated Press’ photojournalists Dar Yasin, Mukhtar Khan and Channi Anand won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography on Monday for their in Jammu and Kashmir coverage after the Centre abrogated the special status of the erstwhile state under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.
The Pulitzer Prize, the most prestigious award in journalism, had been postponed for two weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic. Dana Canedy, who administers the awards, delivered the news from her living room via video-conference instead of a ceremony at Columbia University in New York.
AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said the photographers’ work was important. “This honor continues AP’s great tradition of award-winning photography,” he added. “Thanks to the team inside Kashmir, the world was able to witness a dramatic escalation of the long struggle” for what he described as “the region’s independence”.
Thank you Colleagues, friends, brothers. I would just like to say thank you for standing by us always. It’s an honour and a privilege beyond any we could have ever imagined. It’s overwhelming to receive this honor.
Yasin and Khan are based in Kashmir’s city Srinagar and Anand is based in Jammu.
Anand said the award left him speechless. “I was shocked and could not believe it,” he added. “It’s an honour and a privilege beyond any we could have ever imagined,” Yasin tweeted. “It’s overwhelming to receive this honor.”
A masked Kashmiri protester jumps on the bonnet of an armored vehicle of Indian police as he throws stones at it during a protest in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, May 31, 2019. The image was part of a series of photographs by Associated Press photographers which won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)Kashmiri Muslim devotees offer prayer outside the shrine of Sufi saint Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Dec. 9, 2019. Hundreds of devotees gathered at the shrine for the 11-day festival that marks the death anniversary of the Sufi saint. The image was part of a series of photographs by Associated Press photographers which won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)An Indian paramilitary soldier stands guard as Kashmiri Muslims offer Friday prayers on a street outside a local mosque during curfew like restrictions in Srinagar, India, Aug. 16, 2019. The image was part of a series of photographs by Associated Press photographers which won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)Kashmiri men shout freedom slogans during a protest against New Delhi’s tightened grip on the disputed region, after Friday prayers on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Aug. 23, 2019. The image was part of a series of photographs by Associated Press photographers which won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)Kashmiri villagers grieve near the body of an 11-year-old boy, Aatif Mir, during his funeral procession in Hajin village, north of Srinagar Indian controlled Kashmir, March 22, 2019. Indian security forces killed five militants and the 11-year-old hostage in three separate clashes in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir. The image was part of a series of photographs by Associated Press photographers which won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)A wounded woman is carried on a stretcher for treatment after she was injured in a bus accident, at a local hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, June 27, 2019. A minibus carrying students to a picnic fell into a gorge along a Himalayan road in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing more than 10 and injuring several others. The image was part of a series of photographs by Associated Press photographers which won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)An Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldier keeps vigil near the India-Pakistan border, about 35km (22 miles) west of Jammu [Channi Anand/AP]
AP Executive Editor Sally Buzbee said the award is “a testament to the skill, bravery, ingenuity and teamwork of Dar, Mukhtar, Channi and their colleagues”, adding that the journalists’ compelling storytelling shows people the absolute best of what the news organisation does.
