This Is The Result Of My Efforts In The Past 25 Years: Jammu-Based Photojournalist On Winning The Pulitzer

Channi Anand clearly remembers being “extremely happy” after he clicked the picture of a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan in a maize field, keeping vigil near the India-Pakistan border in the Akhnoor sector, about 35 kilometers from Jammu.

But he wasn’t expecting a Pulitzer at that moment in August last year. He knew that his office had nominated his pictures for the most prestigious journalism award in the world—the Pulitzer Prize.

“I knew that my picture and some of my other colleagues’ pictures were in the running, but I didn’t expect the award,” the 49-year-old gushes as speaks to Reader’s Digest.

He remembers the exact moment when the award was announced. “It was 12.30 am, last night,” the Associated Press photo-journalist says.

A panel of judges announced the Pulitzer Prize, considered the highest honour in journalism, on Monday night, recognizing excellence in the field under various categories.

Anand is one of the three photojournalists from Jammu and Kashmir to have won the award in the ‘feature photography’ category. Anand along with two other journalists Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin (all from Associated Press) will share the prize money of $15,000.

“I have been a photojournalist for almost 25 years now. This award in many ways is the result of my efforts for these many years,” says Anand who stays in Jammu with his wife and two children.

Khan and Yasin are based in Srinagar, and they have won awards for their pictures capturing turmoil soon after Parliament abrogated Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, thereby revoking the “special status” that Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed all these years.

Another Indian, Anushree Fadnavis, a Delhi-based photojournalist, is also one of the winners in the 'breaking news photography' category that was awarded to 'Photography Staff of Reuters.'

Anand has covered natural disasters, live encounters between security forces and terrorists, and has even travelled to Siachen glacier, the highest battleground in the world, as part of his work.