'Now, more than any other time, people should be pissed off about what's going on in the world. We need photographers who can show them what's really happening.' Photographer Julian Broad has firm views on the role of photojournalism and, as one of the judges for the 2006 Observer Hodge Photographic Award, in association with Olympus, he got to see first-hand how young photographers tackle today's important stories. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the award, which was set up in memory of David Hodge, who sustained fatal injuries while photographing the Brixton riots. It's aimed at photojournalists, aged 29 or under, with entrants submitting portfolios of images that tell a story, rather than just a single photo. 'It's fantastic that the Hodge Award exists, because there aren't as many photographers putting these sorts of stories together as there should be,' says Broad. 'It's much easier to concentrate on one image and make that great.'  More than 300 photographers entered this year's competition, and first prize went to 27-year-old Stuart Whipps for Longbridge, which documents the deserted MG Rover car plant near his hometown of Birmingham.  'Stuart's photos were very enticing,' says judge Hannah Starkey, whose photography has been exhibited everywhere from the V&A to the Berlin Photography Festival. 'They seemed well constructed and, when you thought about the story, the emptiness, it was very emotional. Photographing absence is a difficult thing to do.'  The winner receives £5,000, an Olympus camera and lens equipment and an all-expenses-paid assignment for The Observer. It will be Whipps's first commission from a national newspaper. He started his winning series of images in 2004, while MG Rover was still in business, but once production stopped he decided to document the workers' absence. 'This project was particularly important to me as my family has a history of working in heavy industry,' he says, 'but to do these photographic studies you need money, so the award will really help.'  Whipps thinks this switch of focus from action to atmosphere is one of the big changes in photojournalism in the 20 years since the Hodge started. 'There's been a shift from decisive moments to the pre- and after events. I saw a Bob Dylan documentary a few years ago [World Tours 1966-1974] - there were no Dylan songs on the soundtrack and he wasn't in it, but the film showed everyone important around him. I think there's a parallel between that and what's happening now in documentary photography.'  Runner-up Amanda Fisher shared this desire to capture the atmosphere around a life-changing event. Her haunting images of young women having cosmetic surgery investigate the divide between natural female bodies and cultural ideals of femininity.  The other winners presented more traditional portfolios and their reports from around the globe recorded the lives of some unique communities. Student Photographer of the Year Stephen JB Kelly looks at youths given a chance to get away from the drugs and gang culture of Hong Kong in 'The Boys of the Zheng Sheng Rehabilitation Centre'; and Olivia Arthur's third-prize-winning portfolio documents the patients in Tibilisi Women's Psychiatric Ward in Georgia - 'Dealing with someone else's suffering takes real commitment,' says Starkey. 'As a photographer, trust is the most important thing you have.'  Trust played a key part in the creation of Monica Stromdahl's portfolio, for which she won the Olympus Digital Photographer of the Year Award. The 24-year-old is still a student at University College Falmouth, but she went to New York in her holidays 'just to keep my camera busy' and stayed in a rundown residential hotel in Brooklyn, documenting the lives of its inhabitants. It took a week to gain the residents' trust, but in the end they accepted her 'because I'm young and human'. Stromdahl is determined to pursue a career in photojournalism: 'People are scared of what they don't know. I want to tell other peoples' stories.' She says winning an award has given her the confidence in her ability to do that.  The sense of affirmation that comes with a prize is something that judge Broad understands. He thinks it makes the Hodge Award vital. 'The confidence that this gives young photographers is worth more than the money. A sense of justification - God, that's fantastic, better than any prize.'  · The Observer Hodge Photographic Award exhibition is at The Newsroom, 60 Farringdon Road, London EC1 from 10 Nov to 19 Jan.  · Click here for a gallery of the winning photo stories
From the desolate factory floor at Longbridge to women awaiting cosmetic surgery and boys in rehab ... Alice Fisher introduces the powerful winners of the 2006 Observer Hodge Photographic Award.