The Amsterdam photographer Viviane Sassen has been awarded the 2007 Prix de Rome, the oldest art prize in the Netherlands. As reported by Kees Keijer for Het Parool, the €45,000 ($62,000) prize, was given to Sassen for her series of photographs taken in Ghana.
The jury praised Sassen for "working with the people whom she portrays" while maintaining both a proximity and distance in her work. The second prize went to the Korean video artist Sung Hwan Kim, while third prizes went to the English artist Claire Harvey for her drawings and to the sculpture of Maartje Korstanje.