Meeri Koutaniemi

Meeri Koutaniemi, 25, is a Finnish freelance photojournalist. Koutaniemi has studied photojournalism in the University of Tampere and her main interests are political and social issues concerning human rights and minorities. Koutaniemi has worked as a photographer and journalist in over 20 countries and filmed documentary movies in Palestine, Mexico and Bolivia. In 2012 Koutaniemi was selected to be the Photographer of the Year, and she won the categories of Photo of the Year, Portrait of the Year, Multimedia of the Year and Foreign Reportage of the Year. In 2011 Koutaniemi won the Portrait of the Year and got the Honor Mention in Foreign Reportage. Koutaniemi belongs to Finnish collective Group 11. In 2012 Koutaniemi received the Memorial Award of Tim Hetherington in United States and the Memorial Award of Carina Appel in Finland 2013.
At the moment Koutaniemi is focusing on her long-term project about female genital mutilation in Africa.