Jury 2021
Photo by Joel Saget
Stéphane Arnaud
AFP photo editor-in-chief
Stéphane Arnaud began his career in the photo department of French daily newspaper Libération and at the Imapress photo agency before joining AFP in 2000. With a master's degree in history and a diploma from a journalism school in Paris, Stéphane started at AFP as a photo editor. He was then deputy editor-in-chief for photo in charge of the AFP photo platform and head of photo for Europe. He has been AFP global photo editor-in-chief since 2016.
Photo by Christopher Wahl
Lyse Doucet
BBC chief international correspondent
Lyse Doucet is the BBC's chief international correspondent, a Canadian who has been travelling the world for more than three decades. She started reporting for the BBC in Cote d'Ivoire and spent five years in Africa, then five years covering Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran, before working in Amman and Jerusalem as a BBC Middle East correspondent. Since 1999, she has been a BBC World Service and BBC World News TV presenter, mainly reporting from the field. She has a deep and long-standing affection for Afghanistan and its people. She first lived in Kabul in 1988 and remains a regular visitor. Her awards include an OBE in the Queen's Honours List and she is a member of the Order of Canada. She is also a proud recipient of the Queen Soraya Award in honour of the pioneering Afghan queen who promoted women's rights.
Photo by Atefah Hossaini
Massoud Hossaini
Kabul-based photojournalist
Massoud Hossaini was born in Kabul in 1981, during the Soviet occupation. His family fled to Iran when he was six months old. As a young adult, Massoud became involved in activism and began to record the events he witnessed through photography. In 2002, after 9/11 and the start of the US war in Afghanistan, Massoud returned to his home country and received training from the AINA Afghan media and culture centre in Kabul. He joined AFP in 2007 and worked there for seven years, followed by a stint at Associated Press and as a politics student at the American University of Afghanistan. Since 2019, he has been a freelance photojournalist covering Afghanistan's war, human rights violations and social developments. He has won a Pulitzer Prize and several other national and international awards.
Photo by Benedicte Kurzen / NOOR
Kadir van Lohuizen
Photojournalist
Amsterdam-based Kadir van Lohuizen is an international photojournalist and co-founder of NOOR photo agency. Working freelance for his entire career, Kadir has covered conflicts in Africa and elsewhere, but is probably best known for his long-term projects on seven of the world's great rivers, the diamond industry, contemporary migration in the Americas and his 'Where Will We Go' investigation into the human consequences of rising sea levels. He has received numerous prizes for his work, including two World Press Photo awards.
Photo by Sarah Isaacs
Ami Vitale
Photographer and Filmmaker
Ami is an Ambassador for Nikon and a contract photographer with National Geographic magazine. Her journey as a photographer, writer and filmmaker have taken her to over 100 countries where she has witnessed civil unrest and violence, but also surreal beauty and the enduring power of the human spirit. She has lived in mud huts and war zones, contracted malaria, and donned a panda suit-all in keeping with her philosophy of "living the story".