The New Nation - Internet Edition

Art & Culture Report

Bangladeshi photographer Andrew Biraj won World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass Award recently. This was announced on April 28 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Andrew Biraj is working in New Age as photojournalist at present. He is the lone photojournalist selected for the highly competitive award in Asia. Eleven other photographers from across the globe were awarded the prize for their outstanding photojournalistic body of work.

Every year the World Press Photo Foundation selects 12 young photographers below 30 years of age from around the world for the prize. Earlier, the Foundation had nominated a total of 132 photographers.

Biraj submitted two sets of photo stories. One of them was titled 'State Excluded' and dealt with the stranded Pakistanis, highlighting the daily struggle in the Bihari camps of Dhaka.

The other one was named 'Tragic Fibre' and depicted the miseries of the jute mill workers of Khulna.

The winners were selected by an independent, international selection committee consisting of the president of Cuban Aurora Photos José Azel, French art director of the National Geographic Magdalena Herrera, director of Dutch Foam Fotografiemuseum Marloes Krijnen, Danish photographer Erik Refner, Italian photographers Berlingske Tidende and Massimo Siragusa and photographer Agenzia Contrasto. The purpose of the Joop Swart Masterclass, which was introduced in 1994, is to further young and talented photographers' photojournalistic insight.

The other winners are Peter van Agtmael of the Netherlands/USA, Martina Bacigalupo and Massimo Berruti of Italy, Michael Christopher Brown of USA, Agnes Dherbeys of France, Iñaki Domingo of Spain, Philipp Ebeling of Germany, Clemence de Limburg of Belgium, David Magnusson of Sweden, Jehad Nga of Libya/USA and James Pomerantz of UK/USA They will gather in Amsterdam from November 8 to 13 to receive the awards and meet the fellow masters.