Location: Kashmir
Date: August 25, 2020

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is thrilled with the news that the 2020 Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism was awarded to Masrat Zahra for telling the stories of Kashmiri women.

The 26-year-old photojournalist is also the recipient of Anja Niedringhaus Courage In Photojournalism Award 2020, which celebrates the courageous work of women photojournalists, by International Women’s Media Foundation. Her work has appeared in The Caravan, The Washington Post, TRT World, Al Jazeera, The New Humanitarian, Religion Unplugged and several other media outlets.

Catherine Antoine, president of the Global Media Forum Training Group and founder of the Peter Mackler Award, said: “Masrat Zahra exhibits the very qualities that my late husband, Peter Mackler, fostered in the new generation of reporters whose path he crossed. Masrat’s complete dedication to reporting the story, no matter the risks, along with her mental fearlessness and creative approach to use any medium at her disposal to bear witness to the world made our choice easy.”

“It’s our job to work and show the truth,” and “you have to take risks” to do it, Masrat said in a Zoom interview from Srinagar with the Peter Mackler Award. “I feel that as a female journalist, I have a privilege to tell the stories that have been ignored of Kashmiri women caught up in a conflict zone. We have to speak on their behalf.”

The Coalition For Women In Journalism congratulates Masrat Zahra for her excellent work ethic and unapologetic journalism.

The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.

If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.