"It is also really significant for me because of the man whom the award remembers. W. Eugene Smith was a campaigning humanitarian photographer, just as I hope to be, and the work he did stands as some of the greatest photojournalism in the last century.
"It was his work when I was studying at Wellington Polytechnic that made me want to do photodocumentaries on human rights issues."
In his 13-year career, Hammond's work has been widely published, he has won four Amnesty International awards for Human Rights journalism, the 2011 Carmignac Photojournalism Award and this year's FotoEvidence book award that allowed the publication of Condemned.
That work began in 2011 when he travelled to war-ravaged areas of Congo, South Sudan, Mogadishu and Uganda; refugee camps in Somalia and Dadaab; and Nigerian facilities for the mentally ill impacted by corruption. "The extent of the abuse and how widespread it is is just so big and I feel it is a really neglected issue. It goes past just taking pictures. The whole point is to really raise awareness for a group of people who have been severely neglected."
Hammond plans to use the prize money to continue documenting the plight of people with mental illness, and will return to Africa next week.