“Photojournalism is always a challenging profession. A lot of our fellow photojournalists have faced risks to their lives and a few have also perished while doing their duties,” says Reuters photojournalist Amit Dave, who recently won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for ‘Feature Photography’ along with his team members—slain journalist Danish Siddiqui, Adnan Abidi and Sanna Irshad Mattoo. “Even as we are aware of the risks, recognition of our work with awards always prove a morale booster, energizing us to work more enthusiastically in presenting events and realities of life to the people,” he adds.

The team was recognised for their coverage of the Covid-19 crisis in India. A set of 14 pictures, which included 12 pictures by Siddiqui and Abidi and one each by Dave and Mattoo, covering the situation unfolding in hospitals, crematoriums and vaccination camps in New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Ahmedabad and Kashmir at the height of the second wave in India revealed some of the darkest aspects of the pandemic and a crumbling Indian healthcare system.