Khalil Hamra (born 1979,

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

) is an Arab photojournalist based on

Rafah Rafah ( ar, رفح, Rafaḥ) is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. It is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate, located south of Gaza City. Rafah's population of 152,950 (2014) is overwhelmingly made up of former Palestini ...

in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

. In 2009, Hamra was recognized by the

Overseas Press Club of America The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain a ...

with its 2010

Robert Capa Gold Medal The Robert Capa Gold Medal is an award for "best published photographic reporting from abroad requiring exceptional courage and enterprise". It is awarded annually by the Overseas Press Club of America (OPC). It was created in honor of the war photo ...

for his series covering the war in Gaza.

Background

Khalil Hamra was born in Kuwait in 1979 to Palestinian parents and raised in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and the

Palestinian Territories The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The ...

. In 2002, a year after graduating from the Islamic University of Gaza with a degree in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

, Hamra took work as a freelancer with the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

, based in Rafah. In 2004, Hamra's work was featured in a group exhibition of AP photojournalists in the annual international Visa Pour L'image festival in

Perpignan, France Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

; that same year, he received a 2nd prize from '' Editor & Publisher'' for photographs he had taken of a tank strike in Israel. In 2009, he received the Overseas Press Club of America's "Robert Capa Gold Medal" for a series of photographs entitled "War in Gaza", becoming the first Associated Press photographer to win the award in more than thirty years. The Overseas Press Club praised his images as "close up, powerful and direct and taken at considerable risk due to the nature of the conflict which had combatants mingling amongst the civilian population." In February 2011, Hamra himself made news when he was injured documenting demonstrations in

Tahrir Square, Alexandria Tahrir Square ''Alexandria'' ( ar, ميدان التحرير , en, Liberation Square) is a public town square in Alexandria, northern Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country s ...

during the

2011 Egyptian revolution The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...

Awards

* APME photo award 2003 * APME photo award 2007 * Robert Capa Gold Medal Award 2009 * APME photo award 2010 * Atlanta photography award 2010 * 2010: Joint Second Prize, Days Japan International Photojournalism Awards. * PGB photo award 2010 * Headliner photo award 2010 *

Pictures of the Year International Pictures of the Year International (POYi) is a professional development program for visual journalists run on a non-profit basis by the Missouri School of Journalism's Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute. POYi began as an annual competition f ...

photo award 2010 * Pulitzer Prize, shared with 3 others, 2013New York Times Wins Four Pulitzer Prizes
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamra, Khalil Photojournalists 1979 births Palestinian journalists Living people Islamic University of Gaza alumni