Challenging the Integrity of Truth

Svetlana Bachevanova is a Bulgarian American photojournalist shaped by Eastern Europes transitions. As chief photographer of Demokrazia and later the first woman chief photographer at the Bulgarian News Agency, she covered the fall of communism, the 1991 Moscow coup attempt, Baltic independence, and the major Balkan conflicts. After moving to New York in 2001, she co founded FotoEvidence, conceived its Book Award and W Award, and published more than 40 documentary photobooks. In 2024 she launched FotoEvidence Ukraine with the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers.

Muhammed Muheisen is a renowned, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and National Geographic Explorer. He is the founder and chairman of Everyday Refugees Foundation, a Dutch non-profit focused on documenting and empowering refugees. Muheisen's impactful work has been exhibited globally, capturing the struggles of displaced communities and the refugee crisis over the past two decades. His achievements include the 2023 National Geographic Wayfinder Award, and he is featured in the National Geographic documentary “Finding the Light,” currently streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

Santiago Lyon is Head of Advocacy and Education for the Adobe-led Content Authenticity Initiative, working to combat misinformation through digital content provenance. He has 40 years of experience in photography as an award-winning photographer, photo editor, media executive and educator. As a photojournalist for 20 years, he won multiple awards for his work on conflict. In 2004 he was a Nieman Fellow in journalism at Harvard before being named VP/Director of Photography at the Associated Press. He was Chair of the Jury of the 2013 World Press Photo contest.

The heir to one of Africa’s largest and most renowned television production companies, Salim became the reluctant leader of Camerapix upon the untimely death of his father in 1996. Salim’s work as a producer includes the internationally acclaimed feature documentary Mo & Me, the One.org production of Revisiting Korem, and executive producing the award-winning documentary The Sound Man. As an on-camera host and producer, Salim achieved acclaim across the Continent for his production of more than 150 episodes of The Scoop, a weekly half hour series featuring Africa’s foremost voices

Maria Mann is a distinguished American photojournalism consultant, speaker, and mentor based in Portugal. With an impressive career, she has held key roles such as Senior Managing Editor at the European Pressphoto Agency and Director of Photography for Agence France-Presse. An active educator, she curates exhibits, leads workshops, and offers mentorship. Maria has judged prestigious photojournalism contests, including World Press and UNICEF, and curated impactful projects, such as exhibits on the Ukraine crisis and the 'Estados Desunidos' project in Portugal. She frequently lectures at universities across Europe and the Americas.

Veronique de Viguerie French photographer, mother-of-two, multi awarded, "was born as a photographer" in Afghanistan. Her images intend to break the clichés, the black and white vision of the world. She shows us the grey shades, the colors of a more vivid and complex world especially in conflicts.

Giles Clarke is a photojournalist focusing on capturing poignant moments of current and post-conflict global issues. Clarke began his film and photography career in West Berlin as a 16mm camera assistant at the height of the Cold War during the mid-1980s before switching to a successful professional black-and-white photographic printer career in London and New York. In 2013, Clarke was signed by Getty Images Reportage and continues today to syndicate news and feature work through Getty Images as a featured contributor.