Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 5: Jammu and Kashmir based photojournalists Channi Anand along with Mukhtar Khan and Yasin Dar have been conferred with prestigious Pulitzer Prize, which was announced late last night.
The trio work for Associated Press (AP) and won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for their “striking images of life” in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.
“I am speechless, I could not say any word. This is very big honour for me,” said Channi Anand, the 50-year-old photojournalist from Jammu, who had joined AP as a stringer in 1999 and was made a staff photojournalist only four years back. He has won several awards in the photography at the national and local level.
Around midnight Monday, when Channi Anand heard his name announced among the winners of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize, he could not believe he had become one of the first three photographers from South Asia to achieve this feat.
Channi’s winning photograph was of a BSF personnel positioned amid standing crops in R S Pura sector, watching the International Border through binoculars, following tension between India and Pakistan post scrapping of Article 370.
Meanwhile, a number of senior politicians, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and others have greeted the trio for winning the prestigious Pulitizer Prize for photography.
Press Club of Jammu has also congratulated the trio, particularly Channi Anand from Jammu for winning prestigious Pulitzer Award 2020 and said that that his hard work paid to him. “Channi Anand is known for his professionalism, camera is his first love and this award ultimately proved it,” said the PCJ statement adding that it was a proud moment for entire media fraternity of J&K.
The Kashmir Press Club has also greeted the trio for winning the award, and said: “This Pulitzer to the three photojournalists from J&K is an incredible honor and also a proud and big moment for all the media fraternity in J&K as the journalists in the region have always worked in toughest circumstances, risked their lives and always tried to deliver in a rationale and objective manner. This award is recognition of the hard work and the professionalism of these photojournalists,” a KPC statement said.
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