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Student Multimedia Project Honored at the Lumix Festival for Young Photojournalism in Germany

Sarah Hoffman’s Work Is One of Only 20 Global Entries Selected for Exhibition

By Alexis Hitt

Hannover, Germany (June 24, 2014) — Missouri School of Journalism graduate Sarah Hoffman, BJ ’13, was selected to exhibit her multimedia project, “Making My Daughter Stronger,” at the 4th annual Lumix Festival for Young Photojournalism in Hannover, Germany June 18-22.

Sarah Hoffman
Sarah Hoffman, BJ ’13

On hand to see Hoffman’s project was Professor Rita Reed and five students participating in the Photojournalism in Germany and Romania Summer Experience. The trip is one of the School’s Global Programs.

Hoffman’s entry was one of only 20 selected for exhibition out of nearly 200 multimedia projects submitted by young photojournalists from 37 different countries. The project was originally published in the Columbia Missourian while Hoffman was a student.

Hoffman’s project was about Sheila Burnett, a woman diagnosed with end-stage renal cell carcinoma in 2011. When Burnett learned that the cancer had spread to her liver and was no longer curable, she began to prepare her family for her death.

"Making My Daughter Stronger" by Sarah Hoffman, BJ '13
“Making My Daughter Stronger” by Sarah Hoffman, BJ ’13.

Hoffman, on her blog, said: “I met the Boggs/Burnett family while exploring Franklin, Missouri, for a text story on small town post office closings. I spent two years photographing the family as my focus changed over time. When I met Shelia, the mother, she had just finished cancer treatment. She had returned to work, and her life carried on as normal. The type of cancer Shelia had was likely to reoccur and when it did, the family wanted me there to document it.”

Hoffman now works as a staff photographer for the Omaha World-Herald in Nebraska. More of Hoffman’s work can be viewed on her blog.

Updated: July 27, 2020

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