AP Photographer Dar Yasin wins global award in Greece
Associated Press photographer Dar Yasin has won the newly established Yannis Behrakis International Photojournalism Award for his coverage of the Kashmir conflict.
Athens Photo World organizers in Athens, announcing the winner Tuesday, described the 46-year-old staffer's work as a "testament to his courage and resilience."
Tensions in Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan region divided between Pakistan and India but claimed by both in its entirety, have escalated in recent weeks following a decision by New Delhi to downgrade the Indian-administered area’s semi-autonomy.
The annual competition was established in memory of Yannis Behrakis, the award-winning Greek photographer who died of cancer earlier this year, at 58.
Yasin, based in Srinagar, the main city Indian-held Kashmir, will receive a 15,000-euro prize and will exhibit his work in Athens next summer, organizers said.
An Indian paramilitary soldier walks past graffiti on a wall in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Aug. 29, 2016.(AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
"It doesn’t get more personal," Yasin said.
"I have won this award for my documentation of the situation in Kashmir. Not just these past few weeks or months, but years. Years of bearing witness to bloodshed, violence, strife, and unrest. Not in someplace far away. But in my own homeland. In my own city. In my own neighborhood."
AP chief photographer in Athens, Thanassis Stavrakis, who is an artistic director at Athens Photo World, which awards the annual prize, announced the news to Yasin but said an internet and cellphone blackout in Kashmir made it difficult.
"Dar found someone with a decent landline, but I couldn't get through. I called his brother in Mumbai, India, and his wife held two telephones together to connect us," Stavrakis said. "I could hardly hear anything, and I had to keep shouting that he'd won until he realized what had happened. When I saw the winning pictures, I was blown away. This is what pure photojournalism looks like."
The jury is chaired by Behrakis' widow, Elisavet Saridou Behrakis, and includes MaryAnne Golon, assistant managing editor and director of photography at The Washington Post, and Santiago Lyon, director of editorial content at Adobe. The group received the entries in a blind judging procedure.
The cash award was established through a grant from the Athens-based Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
A Kashmiri protester throws exploded tear gas shell back at Indian policemen during a protest in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, June 9, 2017. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Kashmiri Muslims climb trees to watch the funeral procession of Waseem Malla, a suspected militant of Hizbul Mujahideen, in Pehlipora, some 60 kilometers (35 miles) south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, April 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Indian army soldiers shout pro Indian and anti Pakistan slogans as they leave the site of gun-battle in Dialgham about 60 Kilometres South Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, July 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Kashmiri men shout pro-freedom slogans as they carry body of a local rebel Sajad Ahmed Gilkar, during his funeral in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, July 12, 2017. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Unidentified relatives comfort the wailing sister of a Kashmiri civilian who was killed during protest near the site of gun battle at her residence in Begumbagh, about 32 kilometers (20miles) south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Aug. 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Indian Paramilitary soldiers are seen through barbed wire during strike in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Saturday, May 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Kashmiri protesters throw stones and bricks at Indian paramilitary soldiers during a protest in outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, June 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Kashmiri villagers inspecting a home broken in a gun battle flee from it after listening to rumors of Indian military troopers returning again to the positioning, which turned out to be false, in Kundalan village, some 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Srinagar, Indian managed Kashmir, July, 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Indian paramilitary soldiers fires live ammunition at Kashmiri protester near the site of gun battle in Chadoora town, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, March 28, 2017. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Kashmiri villagers carry body of Andleeb, a13 year old Kashmiri girl during the joint funeral procession in Hawoorah village some 68 Kilometres south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, July, 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Kashmiri Muslims display pellet ridden body of Nasir Shafi, during his funeral procession in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shouts religious and pro-freedom slogan as Indian policemen stop them from for participating in a religious procession during curfew in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Oct. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Indian paramilitary soldiers uses slings to shoot glass marbles at Kashmiri protesters in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Aug. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Indian paramilitary soldiers help their wounded colleague as he lies unconscious on the road after he was wounded during a protest near the site of gun battle in Chattergam area of Budgham 25 Kilometers from Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Nov. 28, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Kashmiri Muslims grieve as they watch funeral procession of Fayaz Ahmad Hamal, in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Indian police men try to detain Kashmiri man during a protest in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Oct. 22, 2016. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Kashmiri villagers cross a temporary bridge made by lining up boats to make way for people to cross a river to attend funeral of Shabir Ahmad, a suspected rebel in Awantipora, 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, March 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Villagers carry the body of Kashmiri rebel Abid Hamid Mir, as his aunt clings to his body, during his funeral procession in Hajin about 38 Kilometres North of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Aug. 5, 2017. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Kashmiri men dismantle a portion of a house destroyed in a gunbattle in Tral village, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, March 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
A Kashmiri militant fires his gun to salute fallen comrade Suhail Ahmed,who was killed in an ambush by Indian government forces in Tantraypora, some 85 kilometers (53 miles) south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Aug. 3,2017. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
An Indian army soldier, second left, gives first aid to paramilitary soldiers who were injured in a highway ambush in Pampore, on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, June 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Flames and smoke billows from a residential building where militants are suspected to have taken refuge during a gun battle that killed several people, in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Feb. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
About Dar Yasin
Dar Yasin, born in 1973, in Indian Kashmir. Studied bachelor’s in computer science and technology in South of India.
Dar has extensively covered Kashmir conflict, South Asia Earth Quake and its aftermath and the historical opening of bus route between divided Kashmir.
On assignment in Afghanistan has covered Afghan War, Afghan Refugees and Daily life of war-torn Afghanis. Dar has also covered Rohingya refugee crisis who fled large- scale violence and persecution in Myanmar. His works have appeared in almost all the major newspapers and news magazines around the globe.
Dar has won dozens of international and national photo awards including POYi, Atlanta Photojournalism, China Press Photo contest, the National Headliner Awards, finalist in WARS Photography Award, the Sigma Delta Chi Award by the Society of Professional Journalism. And Indian’s most prestigious Ramnath Goenka Award twice for the stories from Kashmir. Dar also was part of the Associated Press team that won the Hal Boyle Award for the Rohingya Exodus in the Overseas Press Club and a Robert F. Kennedy Award in the International Print category. In year 2017 he received NPPA (National Press Photographers Association) Humanitarian Award which is presented to an individual for playing a key role in the saving of lives or in rescue situations.
Most recently his work was exhibited in Visa Pour L’images in Perpignan.