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Tom Kennedy, Alexia Tsairis Endowed Chair in Documentary Photography in ���ϲ�����’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, this week announced the professional and student winners in the , hosted at the Newhouse School Feb. 19.

Professional Winner

London-based freelance photographer Bharat Choudhary won the $15,000 Alexia Foundation professional grant for his project “The Silence of Others,” which documents “the emotional struggle of young Muslims in the face of negative perceptions and religious discriminations in the post 9/11 and 7/7 era.”

Choudhary received a master’s degree in photojournalism from the University of Missouri in 2010, and worked for the Columbia Missourian. He was awarded a Ford Foundation International Fellowship for his graduate education. He won first place in the International Picture Story category in the 2009 College Photographer of the Year competition.

Finalists in the professional category, which drew 233 entries, included GMB Akash, Jennifer Emerling, Deanne Fitzmaurice and Aaron Huey.

Student Winners

Amanda Berg, a senior majoring in photojournalism at Rochester Institute of Technology, and Bob Miller, a graduate student in Multimedia, Photography and Design in the Newhouse School, tied for first place in the student portion of the competition. Berg will document binge drinking among female college students, and Miller will document the work of Kenyan youth reformers. Each was awarded a full-tuition scholarship to study photojournalism at SU in London in fall 2011, plus a $1,000 cash grant to help produce their projects.

Award of Excellence winners are Rebecca Barnett, a senior at Western Kentucky University; Mackenzie Reiss, a senior in the Newhouse School; and Brad Vest, a graduate student at Ohio University.

Judges for both portions of the competition were Bob Sacha, multimedia producer and instructor; Eliane Laffont, photo industry veteran and Visa Pour L’Image advisor; and Annie Griffiths, National Geographic photographer and founder of Ripple Effect Images.

The work of current and past competition winners can be viewed online at .