Age photographer Jason South has won the 2019 Nikon-Walkley Photo of the Year Prize.
South won the award with his photo of George Pell, the most senior Catholic cleric in the world convicted of child sexual abuse, outside court in Melbourne.
The Nikon-Walkley judges praised South's image for managing to tell the biggest news story in Australia in a single frame, saying “it’s no mean feat to get an image that good out of a court job”.
Winner 2019 Nikon-Walkley Photo of the Year Prize. News Photography finalist: Jason South, The Age, “Pell”. Cardinal George Pell runs the gauntlet of media and angry members of the public at the Melbourne County Court before hearing his sentence.
The Walkley Foundation also announced the Finalists for the 2019 Nikon-Walkley Awards for Excellence in Photojournalism.
Winners will be announced on 28 November at the 64th annual Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism.
The finalists’ photographs will tour the nation in a series of free public exhibitions. Finalists are currently on display at 1826 Photography Studios & Gallery in South Melbourne until October 24.
NIKON-WALKLEY PRESS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year finalist: Scott Barbour, Getty Images and AAP. Japan’s Naomi Osaka during a practice session ahead of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 11, 2019.Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year finalist: Chris McGrath, Getty Images. A protester uses a tennis racquet to hit back tear gas canisters during clashes with police after an anti-government rally in Tsuen Wan district on August 25, 2019 in Hong Kong.Nikon-Walkley Press Photographer of the Year finalist: Jeremy Piper, National Geographic, Oculi and AAP. A visitor to the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum sits in a “sento” public bath in Tokyo.
NIKON-WALKLEY NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY FINALISTS
Nikon-Walkley News Photography Finalist: Chris McGrath, Getty Images, “The Disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi”. An unidentified man tries to hold back the press as Saudi investigators arrive at the Saudi Arabian consulate ahead of Turkish police amid a growing international backlash to the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on October 15, 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey.Nikon-Walkley News Photography finalist: Matt Roberts, ABC, “The Second Coming of Senator Lambie”. Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie enters Parliament House following a smoking ceremony to commemorate the opening of the 46th Parliament. After being disqualified in 2017’s dual-citizenship saga, Lambie is re-elected and instantly holds a crucial crossbench vote in the Senate on the Coalition’s tax cut plan, the key policy Scott Morrison took to the 2019 election. Parliament House, Canberra, July 2, 2019.Winner 2019 Nikon-Walkley Photo of the Year Prize. News Photography finalist: Jason South, The Age, “Pell”. Cardinal George Pell runs the gauntlet of media and angry Christians at the Melbourne County Court before hearing his sentence.
NIKON-WALKLEY SPORT PHOTOGRAPHY FINALISTS
Nikon-Walkley Sport Photography finalist: Craig Golding, AAP, “Invictus Games 2018”. Invictus Medal Presentation: Mark Ormrod makes his way from the podium after winning gold for swimming, October 24, 2018.Nikon-Walkley Sport Photography finalist: Quinn Rooney, Getty Images, “The Art of Sports Photography”. Nigeria’s Israel Adesanya punches Anderson Silva of Brazil during their Middleweight bout at UFC234 at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, February 10, 2019.Nikon-Walkley Sport finalist: Cameron Spencer, Getty Images, "H20". Competitors wait for the starter’s gun as they prepare to race during the Ocean Thunder Surfboat Series at Sydneys’ Dee Why Beach on December 8, 2018.
Nikon-Walkley Feature/Photography Essay Finalist: Chris McGrath, Getty Images, “The End of the Caliphate”. An SDF fighter walks down an empty street amid destruction on February 16, 2019 in Al-Susah, Syria.Nikon-Walkley Feature/Photography Essay finalist: Ryan Pierse, Getty Images and News Corp Australia, “The Unlosable Election”. Deputy Labor Leader Tanya Plibersek and Labor Leader Bill Shorten look on during a press conference at the University of Tasmania Rural Clinical School in the seat of Braddon on May 14, 2019 in Burnie.Nikon-Walkley Feature/Photography Essay Finalist: Jason South, The Age, “Christchurch Massacre”. Zaid Mustafa, whose father and brother were shot dead in the Al Noor Mosque, attends a mass prayer for the victims."
Winners were also announced for three more photography prizes this week:
Nikon-Walkley Portrait Prize Winner: Justin McManus, The Sunday Age, “Landon and Joey”. Landon Punch is a young Yindjibarndi man who lives in the town of Roebourne in remote Western Australia. Landon, like many others in the community has a fearful and strained relationships with police. Landon is pictured with a joey that he is hand rearing until it is big enough to be released back into the bush, after he killed the baby kangaroo’s mother for food.Nikon-Walkley Contemporary Australian Daily Life Prize Winner: Matthew Abbott, The New York Times, “Chinese Tourism Boom”. Spectators snap photos of ram Bruce, “the boss”, walking down the runway before a shearing demonstration.Nikon-Walkley Community / Regional Prize Winner: Max Mason-Hubers, Newcastle Herald and The Sydney Morning Herald, “A year of ups and downs in Newcastle”. Neema M’maalo’s mother, Ababele, was pregnant with Neema when she fled the Congo civil war in the late ’00s to a refugee camp in Tanzania, where Neema was born. They were eventually settled in Australia when Neema was 12. Now 20, Neema is about to start a degree in business and commerce at the University of Newcastle.
