Kristen Ashburn was a judge in the 2013 Q1 Contest

WPJA Judge since 2008 -

Documentary photographer Kristen Ashburn is based in New York City. She has received numerous honors including an Emmy Award nomination (2007), the John Faber Award from the Overseas Press Club of America (2007), a Getty Grant (2006), National Press Photographers Association's (NPPA) Best of Photojournalism (2007, 2006, 2003), Pictures of the Year (POY-2007), and two World Press Photo prizes (2005, 2003). In 2004, she won Canon's Female Photojournalist Award (AFJ) and was named as one of Thirty Emerging Photographers by Photo District News (PDN). In 2003, she was granted the Marty Forscher Fellowship for Humanistic Photography. Ms. Ashburn's photographs and stories from the Middle East, Europe, and Africa have appeared in publications including The New Yorker, Time, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone and Life among others.

Kristen is also the author of 'I Am Because We Are', the photography book companion to the documentary film of the same name, produced and written by Madonna and directed by Nathan Rissman. Both the book and film share the stories and images of children living with the effects of HIV/AIDS. Each child’s story is accompanied by a series of powerful photographs by Kristen, images that, in the words of Madonna, capture “the paradox of beauty and tragedy that exists today in Malawi and many other countries in Africa.” Kristen has photographed the impact of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa for almost a decade and brings her passion for the issue to bear on every image.