Syrian conflict and child brides dominate French photojournalism awards

The photographers were honoured at the annual “Visa pour l’image” International Festival of Photojournalism in Perpignan, in the south of France.

The American photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair took out the Arthus-Bertrand Visa d’or for the year’s best news or feature report.

The 39-year old’s series of photos on child brides in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, India, Nepal and Nigeria captivated the jury, which included some of the best picture editors from around the world.

Sinclair is the only person to have won the award three times.

Click to enlarge Maya (8) et Kishore (11) pose for their wedding photo.

She took the honours in 2010 and 2004 with photographs on polygamy in America and auto-immolation of women in Afghanistan respectively.

For the past 12 years, the French Association of Female Journalists (AFJ) has presented the Female Photojournalist Award at the festival.

This year, French photojournalist Sarah Caron took the prize – an 8,000 euro grant – to help finance a report about the daily struggles of Pashtun women in Pakistan, which has seen a rise in religious extremism.

“There is nowhere else in the world where the gender imbalance is as marked as it is in Pashtun society today,” Caron says. “With the impending withdrawal of NATO troops and the return of the Taliban, Pashtuns are encouraged to maintain their extremist interpretation of religion, thereby victimizing their helpless mothers, sisters and wives.”

Another key feature at this year’s festival has been the continuing unrest in Syria.

A French photographer, Mani, won the International Committee of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (ICRC) Humanitarin Visa d’or for his work showing the extremely vulnerable state of emergency services in Homs.

Mani, who only goes by his first name to protect his identity, spent a month undercover in and around Homs, covering his face with a keffiyeh (headscarf) to avoid being photographed by the secret police.

Chilean photographer Tomas Munita won the New York Times the Visa d’or for daily press with a series of photos capturing the Syrian conflict.

The festival also paid homage to French photojournalist Rémi Ochlik, French journalist Gilles Jacquier and American war correspondent Mary Colvin, who were killed in January while covering the uprising in Homs.

Click to enlarge Mother and baby in an abandoned factory in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.

The first “City of Perpignan Rémi Ochlik” prize for the best young photojournalist was awarded to 27-year old French photographer Sebestian Listé for "Urban Quilombo", a gritty look into the lives of dozens of families that occupy an abandoned chocolate factory in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.

Listé is also one of four photographers awarded grants by the photo agency Getty Images to pursue photojournalism projects. The other winners were Bharat Choudhary, Kosuke Okahara and Paolo Marchetti.

Elsewhere at the festival, Misha Friedman, a former doctor for Médecins Sans Frontières, won a 5,000 euro prize from the French National Association of Iconographers (ANI) for a series of haunting black-and-white photographs on tuberculosis in Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Those photos will soon be displayed at the Galerie du Bar Floréal in Paris.

Earlier in the week, Jeanne Thibord, Sidonie Garnier and François Le Gall won the France 24-RFI web documentary award for an interactive work showcasing street art around the world.

The festival is in its 24th year and runs until 16 September.

Click to see the slideshow These American States Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 22 August 2010. Members of the United House of Prayer for All People are baptised with a fire hose. This tradition began in 1926. © Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA The Shock Wave in Greece Athens, 23 February 2011. A policeman is hit by a cocktail molotov during riots in front of the Greek Parliament. © Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP Afghanistan - seen from the inside Kabul, 21 March 2010. Police try to control a crowd at the entrance to the Shrine of Hazrat Ali as people celebrate Nowruz, the Persian new year. © Massoud Hossaini / AFP The Girl in Green Kabul, 6 December 2011.Tarana Akbari, 12, screams after a suicide bomber detonated a bomb in a crowd at the Abul Fazel Shrine. The photo won the 2012 Pulitzer prize. Reuters/Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Handout 2004-2012 Ajdabiya, Libya, 26 March 2011. On the road to Sirte. Remi Ochlik / IP3 Press 2004-2012 Cairo, 27 November 2011. Protesters shout slogans during a demonstration against the Egyptian Military Council at Tahrir Square. Remi Ochlik / IP3 Press Nigeria, a nation lost to the gods Kafanchan, Nigeria, 28 April 2011. Workers carry a bag of flour at a market that was completely destroyed following post-election violence. Bénédicte Kurzen / Pulitzer Center Nigeria, a nation lost to the gods Kaduna, Nigeria, 28 April 2011. Two soldiers who act as bodyguards for the vice president Namadi Sambo demonstrate their skills near the residence. © Bénédicte Kurzen/Pulitzer Center Condemned - Mental Health in African Countries in Crisis Gulu, northern Uganda, April 2011. This 14-year old boy has been tied up for six years. His mother refuses to let him enter a hospital only two kilometres away. © Robin Hammond/Panos Homelands: Indigenous Australia Kalumburu community,Western Australia. Lily and Jack Karadada were born in the bush more than 80 years ago. Today, they live in a block of government-built houses, and Lily is a world-renowned artist. © Amy Toensing / National Geographic Magazine