Louie Palu and Asim Rafiqui are The Aftermath Project's 2009 Grant Winners

$25,000 grant: Asim Rafiqui (Sweden/US), for his project, "The Idea of India: Religious and Cultural Pluralism as Resistance to Sectarian Conflict," an exploration of the aftermath of religious conflict in India through documenting pluralist landscapes, shared sacred sites, shared cultural traditions and efforts at reconciliation within divided communities.

$15,000 grant: Louie Palu (Canada), for his project, "Home Front," which explores and compares the experiences of American Vietnam War veterans, and returning soldiers from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Palu's project focuses on the emotional and psychological issues faced by soldiers who return from war and the long-term effects they deal with as they try to reintegrate into their families and society.

Due to the exceptionally strong number of applications among the 142 submissions, six finalists have been named this year, instead of the usual number of three. In alphabetical order, they are:

Rodrigo Abd (Guatemala) "Reclaiming the dead: mass graves in Guatemala, a story only partially told"

Andrea Bruce (US) "Unseen Iraq"

David Monteleone (Italy) "Russian Caucasus"

Saiful Huq Omi (Bangladesh) "The Disowned and the Denied: the Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh"

Donald Weber (Canda) "Firewalk: Life with Cluster Bombs in South Lebanon"

Ami Vitale (US) "Kashmir: Lifting the Veil"