WINNER 2025
Photojournalism
Saumya Khandelwal
The New York Times *
Saumya Khandelwal is an independent photojournalist based in New Delhi, whose work focuses on gender, environment, politics, and culture. Her storytelling captures underrepresented communities and pressing social realities through a nuanced, visual lens.
Her work has appeared in TIME, National Geographic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Caravan, among others. She has also worked with organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Malala Fund, Acumen, and USAID.
A Getty Images Instagram Grantee for her photo series Child Brides of Shravasti, her images have been featured in TIME’s Top 10 Photos of 2021 and National Geographic’s 100 Best Photos of the Century. She was nominated for the World Press Photo 6×6 Global Talent Program in 2019.
Her work has been exhibited globally and is part of the permanent collection at the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia. In 2024, she participated in the “Big Cities in Moscow” international photography residency.
Through her lens, Khandelwal continues to chronicle the lives and struggles of communities often left at the margins.
Winning Work
The Brutality of Sugar: Debt, Child Marriage and Hysterectomies
This award-winning investigation, a collaboration between The New York Times and The Fuller Project, delves into the harrowing realities faced by female sugarcane workers in Maharashtra, India. The report uncovers a pervasive system of exploitation involving child marriage, debt bondage, and coerced hysterectomies. Women, often married off in their early teens to meet labor demands, are subjected to grueling conditions without access to basic amenities like running water or medical care. To avoid the challenges of menstruating in the fields and the financial penalties of missing work, many undergo unnecessary hysterectomies—a practice that has become alarmingly common. The investigation highlights the complicity of major corporations and the political elite in perpetuating these abuses, as many sugar mills are operated by influential lawmakers. The exposé has prompted international scrutiny, leading to commitments from companies like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo to assess and address these issues within their supply chains. By bringing these injustices to light, the report has sparked critical conversations about labor rights and corporate responsibility in global supply chains.