Ed Ou wins City of Perpignan Young Reporter Award

The boy is resting on a bed, his back against a lime wall. He has a small radio in his hand, aerial extended. His pants are rolled up slightly, perhaps too big for him. His face reveals little, perhaps distraction, as he looks out to the right of the picture where light emanates from. It's an ordinary picture of a young boy, except for the huge Kalashnikov by his side.

It's a powerful image to say the least, and one of series of moving pictures shot by Ed Ou, a photographer who has just been awarded this year's City of Perpignan Young Reporter Award.

The series, entitled Children of Men, is a powerful silent narrative of child soldiers running around with real guns to affect real hurt, caught up in the wars perpetrated by men.

The images will make for a great photobook on war journalism from a very promising photographer who is courageous in capturing images in some of the toughest and most dangerous parts of the world.

That Mr Ou is only 24 is astonishing as his other work, like his recent excursions into the Middle East to capture the Arab uprisings, shows a maturity about the human condition that usually only comes with age.

Mr Ou is a name to watch out for, that much is certain.