Africa

Jen Marlowe has won the Crossroads Film Festival Award in the "Transformative Film" category for her documentary Rebuilding Hope. The winning films were screened at the film festival in Jackson, Mississippi from April 16-18th.

In February, Pulitzer Center-sponsored journalist Marco Vernaschi won first place in the World Press Photo Contest for General News in the Stories category for his work on narco-trafficking in Guinea-Bissau.

Mark C. Hackett, Special to the Pulitzer Center

Mark is the founder and president of Operation Broken Silence. Views expressed in this guest post are not those of the Pulitzer Center.

Marco Vernaschi has won "Picture of the Year" and 1st prize in "Picture Story of the Year" in the Photographers Giving Back (PGB) Photo Award contest. Vernaschi's winning picture shows the chair on which the President of Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo, was executed just a few hours previously.

The winners of the 2010 World Press Photo Contest were announced February 12 in Amsterdam. Pulitzer Center journalist Marco Vernaschi won first prize for General News in the Stories category for his work on narco trafficking in Guinea Bissau. Vernaschi's photographs will be featured in a traveling exhibition visited by over two million people in 45 countries. The contest is recognized as the world's most prestigious annual press photography competition.

Among the poorest countries in an embattled region absent from international headlines, the Central African Republic combats challenges of corruption and underdevelopment similar to those faced by its neighbors. A hotbed for sectarian violence, three civil wars ravaged the CAR in the past decade. Existing population security is credited predominately to UN aid and multilateral foreign assistance, creating a state essentially reliant on political life support.

Marco Vernaschi has been named a finalist for the International Center of Photography's Infinity Award in Photojournalism for his 2009 work on cocaine trafficking in West Africa. He was nominated by Karen Irvine of the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.

The ICP's Infinity Awards were inaugurated in 1984 to bring public attention to outstanding achievements in photography by honoring individuals with distinguished careers in the field and by identifying future luminaries. The program is well known as the most prestigious photographic awards ceremony in the world!

The New York Times today covered East Africa's biggest new development: Plans are underway for construction of what will become the region's largest port in Lamu, Kenya. Promising swift growth for Lamu, a U.N. World Heritage site possessing rare traditional Swahili charm, the port will likely jump-start lagging regional economic development. But the boost may come at steep costs to environmental and cultural preservation.

Mark Stanley, Pulitzer Center

Image by Jen Marlowe, Pulitzer Center grantee currently reporting from Sudan on the effectiveness of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement five years after it was signed.

In a column for the Des Moines Register, editor Carolyn Washburn commented on support from outside journalism organizations for staff projects, including the Pulitzer Center's support for Phil Brasher's project, "Can biotechnology save Africa?"

Peter Sawyer and Maura Youngman, Pulitzer Center

Pulitzer Center supported journalist Marco Vernaschi has been awarded the top prize in the lens culture International Exposure Awards for his in-depth examination of illegal activity inside Guinea Bissau. Vernaschi's portfolio was selected among more than 6,000 submissions from photographers in 48 countries.