MEET THE 2025 YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHER AWARD JUDGES

Zahara Abdul is a freelance documentary photographer and filmmaker based in Kampala Uganda. She uses her craft to mainly highlight pro-human development stories such as maternal health care. She is keen on covering stories where women and girls are portrayed beyond the limitations of stereotypes.

Esther Ruth Mbabazi uses storytelling and photojournalism to explore changing conditions on the African continent, with a focus on the social, economic, physical, and emotional aspects of daily life. She is a National Geographic Explorer, Everyday Africa Contributor, and Magnum Foundation Photography and Social Justice Fellow. Mbabazi was the inaugural winner of the Young Photographer Award, and her work has been published in the New York Times, National Geographic, Timemagazine, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal, and has been commissioned by a variety of NGOs.

Dennis Kimbugwe is a Ugandan artist working with photography. His creative practice seeks to explore the construction and performance of identity and the complexity of a minoritised existence. Dennis was a receipt of the Adobe Creative Residency Community Fund and the Skillshare Teachlab residency. He is also a mentor for the UPPA Emerging Photographers Mentorship Programme.

His work has been published in The New York Times, The Financial Times, City Press, The Atlantic, Architectural Digest Italia, La Lettura in Corriere della Sera, Il Giornale dell'Arte and Hestetika.