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Main | Photographer of the Year - Freelance / Agency | First Place
First Place
Yuri Kozyrev
TIME Magazine

Second Place
David Guttenfelder
The Associated Press

Third Place
John Moore
Getty Images

Award of Excellence
Ed Ou
Getty Images

First Place
Yuri Kozyrev
TIME Magazine


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Pankisi Gorge, in Eastern Georgia. The Pankisi Gorge, home to a centuries-old community of Chechens called the Kist, became an infamous hideout for bandits and Chechen rebels during the two wars between Russia and Chechnya. These days Pankisi Gorge and its main city, Duisi, are calm. "This is the most peaceful gorge in the world," boasts Merab Kavtarashvili, the head of the local administraition. The border with Chechnya is closed and the remaining residents are either Kist or the 800 or so Chechen refugees who are too poor to move elsewhere. Chechnya, however, is still under the oppressive regime of Ramzan Kadyrov, so no Chechen refugees were willing to give their full names.