Amber Bracken (born 1984) is a Canadian photojournalist known for her reporting on issues affecting

Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

in North America. She won a

World Press Photo World Press Photo Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Founded in 1955, the organization is known for holding an annual press photography contest. Since 2011, World Press Photo has organized a ...

first prize in 2017 for Contemporary Issues and in 2022 won the overall

World Press Photo of the Year The World Press Photo of the Year award is part of the World Press Photo Awards, organized by the Netherlands, Dutch foundation World Press Photo. Considered one of the most prestigious and coveted awards in photojournalism, The World Press Pho ...

. She was arrested in 2021 while covering the

2020 Canadian pipeline and railway protests The 2020 Canadian pipeline and railway protests were a series of civil disobedience protests held in Canada. The main issue behind the protests was the construction of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline (CGL) through of Wetʼsuwetʼen First Nations i ...

Early life and education

Bracken is from

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and was born 1984. She obtained a diploma in photojournalism from

Southern Alberta Institute of Technology The Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) is a polytechnic institute in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. SAIT offers more than 110 career programs in technology, trades and business. Established in 1916, it is Calgary's second oldest post-sec ...

in 2008.

Career

Bracken's career started at the

Edmonton Sun The ''Edmonton Sun'' is a daily newspaper and news website published in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is owned by Postmedia following its 2015 acquisition of Sun Media from Quebecor. It began publishing Sunday April 2, 1978 and shares many cha ...

before she left to work freelance. Her work featured in the ''Creative Endeavors'' exhibit in the Art Gallery of St. Albert in 2017. Her pictures have been published by outlets including The New York Times and Al Jazeera. She also writes for the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

and other media on the plight of the Canadian indigenous peoples. Bracken was arrested in 2021 while freelancing for

The Narwhal ''The Narwhal'' is a Canadian investigative online magazine that focuses on environmental issues. Organization It was launched in 2018 and is a not-for-profit organization funded by membership subscriptions. The Editor-in-Chief is Emma Gil ...

and reporting on the

. She was released on bail soon after. Civil contempt charges were dropped by

Coastal GasLink The Coastal GasLink pipeline is a TC Energy natural gas pipeline under construction in British Columbia, Canada. Starting in Dawson Creek, the pipeline's route crosses through the Canadian Rockies and other mountain ranges to Kitimat, where the ...

. Her reporting on the

Dakota Access Pipeline protests The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests, also called by the hashtag #NoDAPL, began in April 2016 as a grassroots opposition to the construction of Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern United States and ended on Febru ...

won her a

first prize for contemporary issues in 2017. In 2022, Bracken was awarded a

for her photo of '' Kamloops Residential School'' which appeared in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in 2021''.''

Personal life

Bracken lives in Edmonton.

References

External links

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World Press Photo Award 2022 winning photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bracken, Amber Canadian photojournalists Living people People from Edmonton Southern Alberta Institute of Technology alumni Canadian women photographers 1984 births Women photojournalists The Narwhal people