Dar es Salaam. Tanzanian photographer Filbert Minja has won international recognition after receiving a prestigious award at the Earth Photo 2026 competition in London for a photo documentary on the country's indigenous herbal medicine traditions.
Mr Minja won the David Wolf Kaye Future Potential Award – Photography for his project, Roots of Healing, which documents the lives of traditional herbalists in the Kilimanjaro and Arusha regions and the knowledge they have passed down through generations.
The award was presented during the Earth Photo 2026 ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in London. Established in 2018, the competition is regarded as one of the world's leading photography and film programmes focusing on climate, the environment, culture and humanity.
This year's competition attracted more than 1,400 entries from photographers and filmmakers worldwide, with only eight awards presented. The award, which recognises photographers aged 25 or younger, includes a £1,000 cash prize and professional mentoring from award-winning photographer Marissa Roth.
Mr Minja said the recognition was a tribute to the communities that entrusted him with their stories.
"This award is a great honour not only for me but for Tanzania. Roots of Healing is a tribute to the traditional healers and communities who trusted me with their stories. I wanted to document a living tradition that continues to support many families while preserving knowledge that risks disappearing if it is not recorded," he said.
He said he hoped the achievement would encourage more young Tanzanians to tell stories from their own communities through photography.
According to the judges, Roots of Healing portrays traditional herbal medicine as a living practice embedded in everyday life rather than folklore. Through portraits, landscapes and intimate moments, the project explores the relationship between people, medicinal plants and the environment while showing how indigenous knowledge continues to be passed from one generation to the next.
Photoworks Director Louise Fedotov-Clements, who chaired the Earth Photo 2026 jury, said the winning projects demonstrated the power of visual storytelling in helping audiences understand environmental and social challenges.
Royal Geographical Society Curator of Photography Jamie Owen said the shortlisted artists had documented stories of environmental change, restoration and hope through diverse photographic approaches.
The overall Earth Photo 2026 Award went to British photographer Britta Jaschinski for her investigation into the illegal wildlife trade and the forensic science used to combat wildlife crime.
