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2010 Winner Alixandra Fazzina Biography
Photo journalist Alixandra Fazzina is being recognized as this year's winner of the Nansen Refugee Award for her striking coverage of the devastating human consequences of war.
Born in the United Kingdom and now based in Pakistan, Fazzina has spent a decade working in dangerous locations and portrays the plight of displaced people with compassion and empathy.
Her work has been published in major news media around the world, driving attention and sympathy to the people she portrays.
She is the author of the book, "A Million Shillings - Escape from Somalia", which chronicles the exodus of migrants and refugees along people smuggling routes from Somalia to the Arabian Peninsula.
Alixandra Fazzina comes from a fine arts background and began her career as a photo journalist with the British army in Bosnia. She has since worked professionally as a photo journalist, turning away from the frontline to independently document the side effects and longer lasting consequences of war.
Advocating for the plight of refugees
Focusing on often under-reported or forgotten conflicts ignored by mainstream media, her reportage looks at the human impact and greater issues that paint a bigger picture.
Working throughout Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, Fazzina has covered issues that include land mine victims in Kosovo, families broken apart and uprooted during the Ethiopia / Eritrea war, civilians stranded behind enemy lines in Angola, rape as a weapon of war in Sierra Leone, people displaced for environmental reasons in the Horn of Africa, the abuse of children by militias in Congo and Uganda and the protracted Afghan refugee situation.
The photographs and testimonies she produces during these often long-term reportages have been published in international magazines and newspapers including TIME, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph and Stern. In addition, they are regularly exhibited at international shows and exhibitions.
The UN refugee agency announced on July 9 that Alixandra Fazzina is the winner of the 2010 Nansen Refugee Award. The Award, consisting of a medal and a US$100,000 prize, is given annually to a person or group for outstanding services in supporting refugee causes.
