The 2017 Tim Hetherington Fellowship has been awarded to Erika Diettes, for her project on the violence, mourning and memory in Colombia's five decade long conflict. The fellowship is a collaboration between the Tim Hetherington Trust and World Press Photo Foundation to honor Tim Hetherington's legacy. Stephen Mayes, Director of the Tim Hetherington Trust, said: "Erika Diettes checks every box: journalistic rigor in her research, emotional expression in her art and real world impact in her execution. She demonstrates the enormity of the Colombian conflict simultaneously with the intense personal agonies of individual grief. Her work both documents the consequence of atrocity and offers personal succor to the bereaved. While the details of the Colombian conflict are specific to the region, the experience of violent loss is global. Erika's work describes the scale and warns of the consequences of violence while simultaneously offering structures for recovery. The Tim Hetherington Trust is proud to partner with the World Press Photo Foundation to bring her story and her talent to an international audience. We all have much to learn from her stark warnings and her inclusive approach to healing." Lars Boering, Managing Director of the World Press Photo Foundation, said: "It is a great pleasure to award this fellowship to Erika Diettes. Together with the Tim Hetherington Trust we are committed to rethinking education, ensuring talent is connected to new networks of support and supporting visual storytellers who embrace Tim's exploratory and interdisciplinary attitude. Erika's remarkable work is one of the great examples of real stories told in highly creative ways to maximise impact. We're excited for the exchange that will result from her interacting with our community." The fellowship is a collaboration between the Tim Hetherington Trust and the World Press Photo Foundation to honor Tim's legacy. Originally a grant, the Tim Hetherington Trust and the World Press Photo Foundation launched a new fellowship in 2016 following consultation with the Hetherington family. Tim was committed to finding new ways to tell compelling stories about politics, conflict, and the human experience, and to relay these stories to a wide audience. The fellowship, instead of providing funds for an individual project, offers new ways of supporting photographers so they can expand Tim's legacy in new and creative directions. Together, the World Press Photo Foundation and the Tim Hetherington Trust support beneficiaries by focusing on the opportunities for them to be involved in the media economy, either through support for education or by connecting them to the best international networks. The fellowship assists visual storytellers by providing access to training or mentorship so they can further their projects and mission. Fellows become part of sustainable network focused on innovative processes and permanent education. The fellows from each year will become part of the network and will play a role in selecting new fellows. The aim is to grow and strengthen a network of multiple skills that provides ongoing support. "From an early age, I focused on becoming a storyteller, and hence my academic choices – I studied visual arts and journalism, with a focus on audio-visual communication, followed by a master's degree in social anthropology. When I started the project Drifting Away (2007), I started delving not only into the subject of violence, but also into the areas of mourning. Departing from these stories, one project led to the next, and the recognition and the courage by the mourners to share their stories with me, led the way to continue from one project to the next. I became committed to honoring the pain mourners felt because of their lost ...