Renowned photographer Paolo Pellegrin has won the 2006 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography, which also carries $30,000 in prize money.
The award was granted to support Pellegrin’s MAKTAB project, a photo-documentary of Muslims in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in the years following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The full title of his work is “MAKTAB – It Is Written: A Journey Through the Lands of Islam.â€
The Italian-based Pellegrin, who shoots for Magnum Photos, has received many awards in the past, most notably for his coverage of conflicts around the world. The Smith Grant will fund the continuation of his MAKTAB project in Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
A second award, the $5,000 Fellowship Grant, went to photographer Teru Kuwayama for his project, “No Man’s Land: Survival at the Ends of Empire,” an ongoing study of the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan, including Kashmir. Kuwayama is a freelancer based in New York.
[Via: PDNonline]
[Photo: Magnum Photos]