MANILA, Philippines — Filipina photojournalist Eloisa Lopez bagged the 2019 Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award for her coverage on the brutal drug war of the Duterte administration.

The International Women’s Media Foundation posted the announcement on its website, naming Lopez as the 2019 honoree.

“In 2016, after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte won the elections and declared a war on drugs, Lopez documented the nightly killings across Metro Manila as a personal project,” her profile on the IWMF website read.

Featured in the video posted by IWMF is Lopez’s photo of a mother cradling and looking at her child in front of two caskets.

Juror Tara Pixley said this of Lopez’s work: “Telling a local story is so important—there is a great deal of worth in understanding, on a deeper level, what’s happening in your own society and political sphere.”

In a series of tweets, the photojournalist thanked the IWMF for recognizing her work. “Thank you for recognizing a local doing a local’s work,” Lopez said.

She also thanked the “hundreds of mothers, widows and families who have opened their hearts and homes” to her.

It's difficult to find the words to describe how I feel for this. Thank you IWMF for recognizing my work on the drug war for this year’s Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award. Thank you for recognizing a local doing local’s work. https://t.co/q5hzy6xyVf — Eloisa Lopez (@eloisaalopez) April 30, 2019

The award was named to honor the life and work of Pulitzer Prize winner, Associate Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus.

“With this Award, the IWMF celebrates the courageous work of women photojournalists like Anja. The Award recognizes the importance of visual journalistic work that inspires us to take action and compels us to better understand the world,” read the IWMF website.

It added that Lopez’s work was exhibited with fellow photojournalists covering the drug war in Normandy, Sarajevo and Geneva, and she continues to pursue it through a grant from The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Lopez has worked for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Rappler. From late 2018, the Filipina photojournalist also serves as contributing photographer for international news organization Reuters.

Lopez would be honored publicly, have a showcase of her work and receive a cash prize of $20,000. — with report from The STAR/Pia Lee-Brago