Anja Niedringhaus Courage In Photojournalism Award Created, In Honor Of Slain Journalist

Award Created For Slain AP Photographer
FILE - In this Thursday, April 2005 file photo, Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus poses for a photograph in Rome. Niedringhaus, 48, was killed and an AP reporter was wounded on Friday, April 4, 2014 when an Afghan policeman opened fire while they were sitting in their car in eastern Afghanistan. Niedringhaus an internationally acclaimed German photographer, was killed instantly, according to an AP Television freelancer who witnessed the shooting. Kathy Gannon, the reporter, was wounded twice and is receiving medical attention. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
FILE - In this Thursday, April 2005 file photo, Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus poses for a photograph in Rome. Niedringhaus, 48, was killed and an AP reporter was wounded on Friday, April 4, 2014 when an Afghan policeman opened fire while they were sitting in their car in eastern Afghanistan. Niedringhaus an internationally acclaimed German photographer, was killed instantly, according to an AP Television freelancer who witnessed the shooting. Kathy Gannon, the reporter, was wounded twice and is receiving medical attention. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) has announced the creation of the "Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award" in honor of the Associated Press photographer who was killed while reporting in Afghanistan.

Photojournalist and Pulitzer Prize-winner Anja Niedringhaus was shot and killed by an Afghan policeman on April 4, 2014, while covering the upcoming presidential election in Afghanistan. Niedringhaus is reportedly the 14th journalist to be killed while on the job in 2014 alone.

"The Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award will honor women photojournalists who set themselves apart by their extraordinary bravery," the IWMF said in its announcement Tuesday. "Facing and surviving danger to uncover the truth, they raise the bar for reporting under duress."

Niedringhaus started out as a freelance journalist at 16, and went on to join the European Pressphoto Agency in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1990. She joined the AP in 2002. Through the years, she has covered conflict zones in the Balkans, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan, among other places. Her photographs captured moments from the Iraq War to women's rights in Afghanistan to Olympic athletes.

Niedringhaus received the IWMF Courage in Journalism Award in 2005 and was part of the Associated Press group awarded with the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography.

The IWMF said that the award, which was created with a $1 million endowment from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, will be presented annually.

You can watch Niedringhaus' IWMF "Courage in Journalism Award" acceptance speech from 2005 below:

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