Born in Höxter, Germany, in 1965, Anja Niedringhaus studied German literature, philosophy and journalism at Georg August University in Göttingen. While still a student, she photographed for the Neue Westfälische and Göttinger Tageblatt newspapers. In 1990 Niedringhaus became a staff photographer at the European Pressphoto Agency, and from 2002 worked as a traveling photographer for the Associated Press. Her work has been exhibited internationally and won numerous awards. For her reporting from Iraq, she was the first German female photographer to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography (2005), together with other Associated Press colleagues. On 4 April 2014, Niedringhaus was shot and killed while covering the presidential election in Afghanistan.