Throughout the steppes and valleys of autonomous Crimea and the Caucasus, the Cossack people are relearning warrior traditions suppressed under communism. Anastasia Taylor-Lind, winner of the 2009 Guardian/Royal Photographic Society's Joan Wakelin award, travelled to the women-only Ataman Platov school in Belaya Kalitva, southern Russia, to photograph female Cossack cadets.The Joan Wakelin award each year offers a bursary of £2,000 for the production of an overseas photo essay. The bursary, administered by the Guardian and the Royal Photographic Society, is awarded to the photographer who presents the best proposal for a photographic essay on an overseas social documentary issue. The competition is open to all. See www.rps.org/bursaries for further information