Mustafah Abdulaziz was awarded the Nikon Emerging Professional Grant and accepted to the prestigious Missouri Photojournalism Workshop 61 in September/October of 2009.

Some of this years instructors include: Carolyn Cole, Pulitzer prize winning photographer from the Los Angeles Times; Dennis Dimick, executive editor (environment), National Geographic; MaryAnne Golon, former director of photography of TIME and Jury Chair, World Press Photo 2009.