Getty Awards $80,000 to Four Photojournalists at Perpignan

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On Thursday, Getty Images awarded $80,000 in grants supporting the work of four international photojournalists. Bharat Choudhary, Kosuke Okahara, Paolo Marchetti and Sebastian Liste each received $20,000 prizes and editorial support as winners of the 2012 Getty Grants for Editorial Photography. An additional $20,000 was also pledged to the Chris Hondros Fund in order to further support photojournalism and public awareness initiatives through an award given to Andrea Bruce and Dominic Bracco in June.

Announced at Visa pour l’Image, the annual festival of photojournalism held in Perpignan, France, the grants—first established in 2004—aim to “enable emerging and established photojournalists to pursue projects of personal and editorial merit, focusing attention on significant social and cultural issues.”

This year’s panel of judges, including Whitney Johnson (Director of Photography, The New Yorker), Jean-Francois Leroy (Director, Visa pour l’Image), Barbara Griffin (Turner Broadcasting Systems), Kira Pollack (Director of Photography, TIME) and photographer Stephanie Sinclair, sorted through 328 story proposals from 60 countries, eventually narrowing in on four projects. According to Aidan Sullivan, Vice President of Assignments at Getty, these four winning projects “deal with a range of compelling and multifaceted issues, from the devastation caused by the Japanese natural disasters to modern day slavery in Brazil.”

Bharat Choudhary, an Indian photographer based in London, was recognized for his project, The Silence of Others, which aims to explore the societal and cultural alienation of Muslim youth in France. His project initially began two years ago by examining the ‘Islamophobia’ of aspects of American and British life. The grant will allow Choudhary to continue his project, delving further into specific triggers inherent to French society.

Four years ago, Paolo Marchetti began FEVER – The Awakening of European Fascism after noticing a resurgence of interest in extreme right-wing politics. The Rome-based photographer has documented the exponential growth of citizens fleeing their own country in the wake of the Arab Spring. Marchetti will expand the project to other European countries with the award funds.

Tokyo-based photographer Kosuke Okahara documented the devastation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant following the earthquake that struck Japan in March 2011. The grant will help Okahara continue Fragments/Fukushima as he investigates the true meaning of the disaster upon the world’s populations through images and audio interviews.

Sebastian Liste‘s project, The Brazilian Far West, explores the inequalities caused by Brazil’s slow and gradual abolition of slavery, particularly affecting the plight of peasants. Liste, a Spaniard, plans to create a multimedia map illustrating the origins of Brazilian inequality and violence, utilizing photography, video and first person interviews to draw attention to the effects caused by 4% of Brazil’s landowners controlling 80% of the country’s arable land.

The Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography are awarded each year. The projects of past recipients may be viewed here.

Young members of the “Skins 4 Skins” group at a Hawaiian party on the Roman seaside, August 2010. 2012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Paolo Marchetti
Matteo holds a torch during a march in Rome, December 2009.2012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Paolo Marchetti
Dancing and fighting during a Nazi-rock concert in Naples, July 20092012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Paolo Marchetti
The so-called Legionnaire's greeting in Perugia, June 2009. 2012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Paolo Marchetti
Cow corpses abandoned inside the 20km exclusion zone of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor. 2012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Kosuke Okahara
Police officers at the check point of the exclusion zone. The radiation level at the check point was 760 times higher than normal. 2012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Kosuke Okahara
Destroyed observation post at a swimming beach in Iwaki city, some 40km south of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors. The sea water is now dangerously contaminated and people no longer swim at the beach.2012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Kosuke Okahara
A resident of Minamisoma city whose family evacuated after the disaster. He now lives alone in an apartment where civilians detected plutonium even from the parking lot.2012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Kosuke Okahara
From left, Minhaj, Ashiq, Shofique and Abid just before they left London to attend a gathering on 'Islam and Young Muslims' in Birmingham, UK. October 2010.2012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Bharat Choudhary
Nasima Akhtar (right) and her Hindu friend, Chaitali, get ready for a house party in Sheffield, UK. April 2011.2012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Bharat Choudhary
Iythar is a British artist in London and one of her paintings (top left) is titled, 'The Way Sarkozy Intended It'. She said, 'It is an interpretation of the burqa ban in France. It shows how the ban takes away the voice and identity of Muslim women, leaving them speechless and incomplete'. July 2011.2012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Bharat Choudhary
Community members leave the East London Mosque after Eid prayers in London. Combined with the adjoining London Muslim Centre, it is one of the largest mosques in the United Kingdom. Nov. 16, 2010.2012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Bharat Choudhary
Melanie, 22, with her two sons in a small shack in an abandonated chocolate factory in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. In spite of the extreme conditions in which they live, this factory ruin has become a home for the family. May 22, 2010. 2012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Sebastian Liste
Sandra, 16, was raped by her father's patron since she was 9 years old. One year ago she became pregnant by him and he threatened to kill her if she asked for any support. March 10, 2012.2012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Sebastian Liste
The occupied chocolate factory in Salvador de Bahia. Despite the lack of socio-economic support from the government, they have managed to form a community of their own, which is safer that the alternatives available to them. However, they are currently being evicted by the government. March 3, 2011.2012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Sebastian Liste
Members of the special operation to free slave workers in the State of Maranhao talk with Rogerio. He and his family have been working for 13 years on the "fazenda" (farm) and have received no payment. Their "debt" and death threats prevent them from leaving. March 10, 2012. 2012 Getty Images Editorial Grant Winner Sebastian Liste

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