2026 Winner
Journalism is not a Crime
Palestinian journalists and photojournalists in Gaza
Book Award Years
The 2026 FotoEvidence Book Award is dedicated to Palestinian journalists and photojournalists who documented the war in Gaza under life-threatening conditions, honoring both those who continue to report and those who were killed doing their work. The award publication, Journalism Is Not a Crime, brings together the work and voices of 73 Palestinian journalists and photojournalists, a collective testimony to their courage, their commitment to bearing witness, and the extraordinary cost of journalism in Gaza.
The title of this book, Journalism Is Not a Crime, comes from a simple belief, that no journalist should be harmed for doing their job and bearing witness.
As the war unfolded, Israel closed Gaza to the international media. Reporting from inside Gaza depended overwhelmingly on Palestinian journalists and photojournalists, who were themselves trapped inside the strip living through bombardment, displacement, hunger, loss and grief while documenting events around them. Many became not only witnesses to the story but also direct targets of the violence they were recording.
Covering October 2023 through the end of 2025, the 400 pages book brings together 116 photographs and 70 Instagram posts into a chronological testimony of war, survival, and loss. Built from the social media archives of Gaza's journalists and online presentations the book preserves their images, voices, and personal reflections. It features their photographs, final messages, wills, and last social media posts.
To create this unprecedented collection, the editorial team, photo editor Sarah Leen, researcher and photojournalist Aruallan, and creative director Svetlana Bachevanova reviewed more than 57,000 Instagram posts and online publications from journalists working in Gaza. The result is an intimate and devastating portrait of journalism under siege, where the act of documenting became inseparable from survival itself.
The book was designed by Melike Taşçıoğlu, with a an original, calligraphic artwork on the cover by Palestinian photojournalist and artist Belal Khaled, created exclusively for the book.
The book Journalism is not a Crime is a product of the 2026 FotoEvidence Book Award.
Journalists in the book: Abdallah Al-Attarr, Abdelhakeem Abu Riash, Abed Zagout/AA, Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty, Ahmed Al-Louh, Ahmed Hijazi, Ahmed Mansour, Ahmed Zaqout, Ali Jadallah, Amr Tabash, Anas Jamal Al-Sharif, Ayman Al-Gedi, Bashar Taleb, Belal Khaled, Dawood Aboulkas, Doaa Mohammad Al-Baz, Eyad Baba, Fadi Al-Wahidi, Fatma Hassona, Haitham Imad/EPA, Hamza Al-Dahdouh, Hassan Aslih, Hossam Al Masri, Hossam Shabat, Ibrahim Abu Mustafa/Reuters, Ibrahim Zaher, Ismail Abu Dayyah, Ismail Abu Hatab, Ismail Al-Ghoul, Jehad Al-Shrafi/AP, Khames Alrefi, Loay Ayyoub/ for The Washington Post, Mahmoud Abu Hamda, Mahmoud Bassam, Mahmoud Issa, Majdi Fathi, Mariam Abu Dagga, Moaz Abu Taha, Mohamed Abu Hatab, Mohammed Al-Aloul, Mohammed Daher, Mohammed Dahman/Getty, Mohamed Issa Abu Saada, Mohammed Mansour, Mohammed Masri, Mohammed Qreiqeh, Mohammed Salama, Mohammed Salem/Reuters, Mohammed Zaanoun, Momen Faiz, Momen Sameer, Montaser Al-Sawaf, Motasem Mortaja, Mustafa Hassona/AA, Mustafa Al-Thuraya, Omar Al-Dirawi, Omar Ashtawy, Omar El-Qattaa, Ramez Haboob, Roshdi Sarraj, Saber Nuraldin/EPA, Saed Abu Nabhan, Saher Alghorra/For The New York Times, Said M. Jaras, Salem Abu Tayour, Sameh Rahmi, Samer Abu Dagga, Sari Mansour, Suhail Nassar, Yahya Barzeq, Yasser Qudaih, Yousef Al-Zanoun, Yousef Massoud/for The New York Times.