
'I shoot for the common man who wants to see and feel a story from a place where he can't be present himself."
Danish Siddiqui was a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist who headed the Reuters multimedia team in India as its Chief Photographer.
Before his foray into photojournalism, Danish was a television correspondent with India’s leading news networks.
As a photojournalist, Danish covered several important stories in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. His works included covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the COVID-19 pandemic in India, Indian citizenship law protests, Sri Lanka Easter bombing victims, Rohingya refugees crisis, Hong Kong protests, Nepal earthquakes, Mass Games in North Korea, and living conditions of asylum seekers in Switzerland.
Danish’s work got widely published in scores of magazines, newspapers, slideshows, and galleries – including National Geographic Magazine, New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, Forbes, Newsweek, NPR, BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, South China Morning Post, The Straits Times, Bangkok Post, Sydney Morning Herald, The LA Times, Boston Globe, The Globe and Mail, Le Figaro, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, Stern, Berliner Zeitung, The Independent, The Telegraph, Gulf News, Libèration and various other publications.
Danish had been honored with various photojournalism awards in the USA, England, China, Hong Kong, India, etc.
On 16th July 2021, while documenting the Afghan Special Forces mission to retake the town of Spin Boldak, Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border, the Taliban captured him, shot him dead, and then brutally mutilated his body, including running a Humvee over him. His embed in such a highly volatile region has been a subject of intense discussions among journalists and media security experts. It has once again put the spotlight on journalist safety in conflict zones.
Danish’s powerful images carried deep meanings which covered a broad spectrum of society and always created a lasting impression. Despite rising to great heights in the photojournalism field, he always chose to be in the area through perseverance and hard work, capturing the various perspectives of the agony and pain of the oppressed people in some of the most challenging locations in the world. His courage and boldness sent out a strong message of professional integrity to the fraternity and the world.
Danish Siddiqui’s valor and eminence will stay etched in history, and journalism will profoundly remember him forever through his pathbreaking photographs and contributions.
Major Awards
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China International Press Photo Contest 2012
Gold Award, Economy, Science & Technology News, Singles
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Sony World Photography Awards 2013
Arts and Culture Category
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Media Foundation of India (MFI) 2013
Sports Singles Category
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Atlanta Photojournalism Awards 2014
3rd Place, Feature Category
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Atlanta Photojournalism Awards 2017
1st Place, Feature Category
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The Pulitzer Prize 2018
Feature Photography ( Photography staff of Reuters)
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Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journlism Award 2020
Category: Uncovering India Invisible
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Hong Kong 25th Human Rights Press Awards 2021
Photography (Series) and Photography (Single Image) Categories
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Visa pour l'Image Photojournalism Festival 2021
Exhibition "Documenting India’s Greatest Healthcare Crisis"
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RedInk Awards for Excellence in Journalism 2021
Journalist of the Year
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NPPA Best of Photojournalism Awards 2022
Second Place , General News Category held by National Press Photographers Association , USA
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Reuters The Baron Award 2021
Honors an individual who exemplifies the Reuters tradition of integrity and journalistic excellence
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Photojournalist of The Year 2022
Reuters Journalists of The Year Awards
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Photo of The Year 2022
Reuters Journalists of The Year Awards
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Hugo Shong Journalist of The Year Award 2022
For Reporting on Asia Affairs
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The Pulitzer Prize 2022
Remembering Danish
"He was a man with a magical eye and was rightly regarded as one of the foremost photojournalists of this era. If a picture can tell a thousand words, his photos were novels"
Danish Siddiqui’s Singular Images Captured Our Uncomfortable Truths
by Rahul Bhatia, The New Yorker
Don’t look away
The Indian Express
Danish Siddiqui & The Superpower Of Indian Photojournalism
by Priya Ramani, BloombergQuint
The truth in Danish Siddiqui’s photographs
by Naimisha, The Indian Express
Frames and the man: why Danish Siddiqui’s work makes him a hero
by Vaishna Roy, The Hindu
Danish Siddiqui: A people's photographer
by Stanley Carvalho, Deccan Herald
A tribute to slain Reuters journalist Danish Siddiqui
South China Morning Post
Gone too soon: The legacy and courage of Danish Siddiqui
by Jyotsna Mohan, Gulf News
Farewell, Danish
by Navesh Chitrakar, Nepali Times
Farewell Danish Siddiqui, emphatic chronicler of lived history
by Natasha Badhwar , The Tribune
In memoriam: Danish Siddiqui my friend
by Salma Siddique, Dawn
Danish's Work