SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Metrography photo agency announced on Tuesday it would launch Kamaran Awards next year in the honor of photojournalist Kamaran Najm, who disappeared during the fight against Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014.
The photojournalism agency which Najm co-founded said in a statement that it would grant two awards to journalists in April 2022 in Sulaimani city.
Najm disappeared as he was covering the fight between Peshmerga forces and ISIS militants in Kirkuk on June 12, 2014.
“The Kamaran Awards are being presented for the first time this year by Metrography,” the agency said.
The first award which is a grant of $12,000 will be given to a journalist working in any “medium to enable them to pursue a long-term reporting project of their choice”, Metrography stated.
It further said nomination for the first award was opened on Tuesday and would last until Feb. 18, 2022.
“The winner will be decided by a distinguished panel,” it added.
The second $8,000 grant award would be given to the family of a photojournalist who has disappeared while on assignment.
Metrography Agency is an independent photo agency in Iraq, founded by Kurdish photographer Kamaran Najm and American photojournalist Sebastian Meyer in 2010.
