Afghan Photographer Became the 2012 Pulitzer Prize Winner

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Tarana Akbari, 12, screams after a suicide bombing at the Abul Fazel Shrine in Kabul, Afghanistan, on December 6, 2011.

Columbia University has announced the 2012 Pulitzer Prize winners—and they include Afghan photographer Massoud Hossaini, whose picture of a girl reacting to a suicide bombing took the title in the category of breaking news photography.

The explosion of which the young girl, Tarana Akbari, is a survivor killed more than 70 people. Among the dead were seven of Akbari’s own family members, who had traveled to Kabul in honor of the holiday of Ashura; nine of her other relatives were wounded. The Pulitzer announcement calls the photograph, featured here, “heartbreaking.” Hossaini, who works with Agence France-Presse, is a native of Kabul and was raised in Iran. He was a political activist prior to taking up a camera and got his start photographing Afghan refugees living in his adopted country. He returned to his home country in 2002 and is still based there.

The Pulitzer for feature photography went to Craig F. Walker of the Denver Post for his story about an Iraq War veteran.

A full list of winners can be found on the Pulitzer Prize website.