We already know the winners of the international photojournalism and digital narrative competitions organized by the World Press Photo Foundation, which will be part of the exhibition that can be visited in Barcelona, from November 13 to December 20 at the CCCB, with the support of the Fundació Banc Sabadell.
“Straight Voice” © Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP
Among the winners, the World Press Photo of the Year to “Straight Voice”, by the Japanese author Yasuyoshi Chiba for Agence France-Presse, and also the World Press Photo Story of the Year, awarded to the work “Kho, the Genesis of a Revolt”, by the French photographer Romain Laurendeau. This award has been given for the second year in the competion and it focuses on long-range narrative works, beyond impact pictures.
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- “Kho, Genesis of a Revolt” © Romain-Laurendeau
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- “Kho, Genesis of a Revolt” © Romain-Laurendeau
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- “Kho, Genesis of a Revolt” © Romain-Laurendeau
By awarding both prizes, the judges have highlighted the important role of youth in promoting change, also highlighting that one of the main topics in 2019 has been social protests. Also the environment has been inspirational for many outstanding works, becoming the predominant topic on a dozen of the award-winning images and stories, which really means a continous trend from the previous edition.
The aim of the World Press Photo Foundation is that its contests presents a look, as plural as possible, to what is happening in the world today. To accomplish that, it carries out campaigns throughout the year in order to attract new photographers from the most varied origins. Sanne Van der Loeff, head of exhibitions in the Netherlands, comments: “In 2019, we organized photography meetings in places like Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Hanoi, Maputo, Siem Reap and Bangkok, directly contacting different organizations, but also conducting extensive online dissemination campaigns”. In addition, they focused the campaigns on attracting the participation of women and photographers from African and South American countries. Even when the results will be visible in the medium-long term, the organization believes that it is essential to improve the diversity of points of view that it reflects in its competitions.
Spanish photographers at World Press Photo 2020
Ricard Garcia Vilanova
The Barcelona photojournalist Ricard García Vilanova has won the 3rd Prize in the Current Issues – Single Pictures category, with an image about the popular protests in Iraq known as the Tishreen Revolution, started in late 2019. Specialized in areas of conflict and humanitarian crises, and with more than 20 years of career, García Vilanova won, together with the journalist Karlos Zurutuza, the I Photographic Social Vision Scholarship for investigative photojournalism in 2016 with the project “Exodus. Life and death on the Libyan route to Europe”. His pictures have been published in prestigious media such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, Libération, The Guardian, The Times, Die Welt, and Der Spiegel, among others, and he has collaborated with organizations such as United Nations, also working as a reporter for CNN, BBC or Aljazeera, among others.
Regarding his winning photograph, Ricard García Vilanova tells us that it is part of his work documenting the protests in Iraq, which “with more than 600 dead, went largely unnoticed by The West. The goal was to present a society in need of change after its government extinguished any opportunity to offer work or aspire to a future. Protesters staged protests in October, resulting in tremendous repression. Specifically, this image was taken one day when, like many others, the violent response against protests increased. During the afternoon, there was real fire, in addition to tear gas. I think the injured man was a casualty of the gas. It was all very fast, with just enough time to shoot my camera before he left for the hospital in that vehicle”. The composition of the picture is reminiscent of a pietá and the lighting can refer to Caravaggio. “It is true, it can remind of the Caravaggio’s painting, but it was totally coincidental. Suddenly, the protester vanished and someone put him on top of another, who also seemed to be wounded, and it was the moment in which I took the image”. García Vilanova reveals.
Antonio Pizarro Rodriguez / Diario De Sevilla
For his part, Sevillian photojournalist Antonio Pizarro Rodríguez is the winner of the 3rd Prize in the Nature – Single Pictures category, for an image published in the Diario de Sevilla about the Iberian lynx, the most threatened feline on the planet, in the Doñana National Park. It is a complicated image, very dynamic, with one of the protagonist animals captured in full jump and foreshortening, and the other one remaining vigilant and in a transversal position. Its author explains how he did it: “I have to say that I took it from a distance. I was not present when the animals passed by the camera. I used the infrared barrier technique so as not to disturb and interfere with the behavior of the animals. It was very difficult because I had to invest two months. My daily routine consisted of going at 8 in the morning, putting the camera, going back at 3 in the afternoon, changing the battery, leaving again and going back at 8 at night to see the results and take the camera back because the equipment was not entirely safe in that place. I want to emphasize that in this picture there is no human presence and that in order to obtain this image it was necessary to make an analysis of the behavior of the animal for several years”.
Ramon Espinosa /Associated Press
Lastly, Ramon Espinosa, also from Barcelona, from the Associated Press agency, has won the 3rd Prize in the Current News category, Individual Photographs, for a photograph of the devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas in September 2019.
We will soon publish full interviews with the three award-winning Spanish photojournalists.
Listado de los principales ganadores del World Press Photo 2020
Concurso fotográfico World Press Photo 2020
- World Press Photo Of The Year: «Straight Voice», Yasuyoshi Chiba for AFP.
- World Press Photo Story Of The Year: «Kho, genesis of a revolt», Romain Laurendeau.
- Winner on Temas Contemporáneos (fotografías Individuales): «Nothing Personal – the Back Office of War» de Nikita Teryoshin.
- Winner on Temas Contemporáneos (Reportajes): «The Longest War» de Lorenzo Tugnoli.
- Winner on Medio Ambiente, Fotografías Individuales: «Polar Bear and her Cub» de Esther Horvath.
- Winner on Medio Ambiente (Reportajes): «The End of Trash – Circular Economy Solutions», de Luca Locatelli.
- Winner on la categoría Temas de Actualidad (individual): «Straight Voice» de Yasuyoshi Chiba.
- Winner on la categoría de Temas de Actualidad (Reportajes): «Hong Kong Unrest» de Nicolas Asfouri.
- Winner on la categoría de Proyecto a Largo Plazo: «Kho, la génesis de una revuelta» de Romain Laurendeau.
- Winner on categoría Naturaleza (individual): «Final Farewell” de Alain Schroeder.
- Winner on la categoría Naturaleza (Reportajes): «Saving Orangutans” de Alain Schroeder.
- Winner on la categoría de Retratos (individual): «Awakening» de Tomek Kaczor.
- Winner on la categoría de Retratos (Reportajes): «The Haunted» de Adam Ferguson
- Winner on la categoría de Deportes (Individual): «Kawhi Leonard’s Game 7 Buzzer Beater» de Mark Blinch.
- Winner on la categoría de Deportes (Reportajes): «Rise from the Ashes» de Wally Skalij.
- Winner on la categoría de Noticias de Actualidad (Individual): «Clash with the Police During an Anti-Government Demonstration» de Farouk Batiche.
- Winner on la categoría de Noticias de Actualidad (Reportajes): «Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 Crash Site» de Mulugeta Ayene.
Digital Narrative Contest 2020
- World Press Photo Interactive of the Year: «Battleground Poly U» de DJ Clark / China Daily, como .
- World Press Photo Online Video of the Year: «Scenes from a Dry City» de Francois Verster / Simon Wood / Field of Vision
And you can also check here the rest of the works featured in World Press Photo 2020.
#WPPBarcelona #WorldPressPhoto2020
