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The Peter Mackler Award joins Freedom House to help free imprisoned journalists.

Masrat Zahra, during confrontations between Indian government forces and students protesting civilian killings on Lal Chowk square in Srinagar, Kashmir. Photo: Umer Asif
Masrat Zahra at work, during clashes between protesters and Indian government forces at the end of Friday prayers at the Jamai Masjid mosque in Srinagar. Photo: Bilal Ahmad

About The Peter Mackler Award

The Peter Mackler Award honors reporters and editors who have demonstrated a commitment to fairness, accuracy and speaking truth to power, and a matching commitment to asserting the right to publish or air that story in countries where independent media is under threat.

Recipients

2020 Masrat Zahra Srinagar, Kashmir
2019 Paolo Borrometi Rome, Italy
2018 Jovo Martinović Podgorica, Montenegro
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2020 Recipient: Masrat Zahra

Independent photojournalist Masrat Zahra is the 2020 PMA winner for her work covering events in Kashmir.

She was honored in a virtual ceremony organized by the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in New York City on Thursday September 24, 2020.

Her work reporting on conflict in her home region, with a specific focus on the perspectives of women, has appeared in prominent news sources such as The Washington Post and Al Jazeera. She is a prolific user of Instagram.

During the virtual ceremony, a panel of experts discussed the history of the Kashmir conflict and how it has disrupted daily life in the territory for decades. Masrat gave a moving account of her first professional photograph in the home of a young widow. Moderator: Farwa Aamer, Director, South Asia program at the EastWest Institute; Panelists: Deepti Misri, Associate Professor; Director of Undergraduate Studies at University of Colorado Boulder, Dr. Mohamad Junaid, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work at MCLA, Suchitra Vijayan, Founder and Executive Director of The Polis Project.