The Girl in the Green Dress

Journalism is not only about informing the viewers and readers of what is going on.  On the first day of class, we were told that we are in an industry where we need to constantly be entering contests and working to show how much we have improved.  The Pulitzer Prize is awarded for "excellence in newspaper journalism, literary achievements and musical composition."

The 2012 winner of the Breaking News Photography Pulitzer Prize was Massoud Hossaini for a photo taken in Kabul.

Tarana Akbari, 12, screams in fear moments after a suicide bomber detonated a bomb in a crowd at the Abul Fazel Shrine in Kabul on December 06, 2011. 'When I could stand up, I saw that everybody was around me on the ground, really bloody. I was really, really scared,' said the Tarana, whose name means 'melody' in English. Out of 17 women and children from her family who went to a riverside shrine in Kabul that day to mark the Shiite holy day of Ashura, seven died including her seven-year-old brother Shoaib. More than 70 people lost their lives in all, and at least nine other members of Tarana's family were wounded. The blasts has prompted fears that Afghanistan could see the sort of sectarian violence that has pitched Shiite against Sunni Muslims in Iraq and Pakistan. The attack was the deadliest strike on the capital in three years. President Hamid Karzai said this was the first time insurgents had struck on such an important religious day. The Taliban condemned the attack, which some official viewed as sectarian. On the same day, a second bomber attacked in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Karzai said on December 11 that a total of 80 people were killed in both attacks. Published December 7, 2011

The picture was taken just after a suicide bomber detonated a bomb in a crowd after a religious ceremony.  The girl in the green, Tarana Akabari, was one of very few survivors.  The photo was published in December, but months later, Tarana was making headlines again.
1. AFP
2.The Sydney Morning Herald
3. The New York Times
4. NDTV
5. itsybitsy Steps

This picture is startling; there's no doubt about that.  When I look at it, I wonder what kind of an impact is has on others.  In an era where violent video games are the norm, does an image like this really hit like it should?  We are all used to seeing images from the War on Terror.  This picture makes me wonder how extraordinary of an event it takes to win a prize like a Pulitzer.

The winner of the same award in 2000 was a group of photos from the Columbine shooting.

Emergency workers treat wounded students as friends and loved ones provide comfort at a triage site on the lawn of a neighborhood home.

In the past couple years I've learned a lot about the journalism industry.  I've learned a lot about the techniques and the ways to film and write a story.  But I can't help think but a large portion of finding the right story to tell is being in the right place (or the wrong place) at the right time.

My roommate is a photojournalism major, and she has told me on multiple occasions that she feels like her best pictures only happen by accident.  Walter Astrada is a freelance photojournalist.  In December 2011 he received the Alfred I. duPont award for Broadcast and Digital Journalism for a project called Undesired.  When he came to MU last year, he said the same thing as my roommate.  This is my own blog from my multimedia journalism class on his talk.