Striking protest image wins 2020 World Press Photo contest
The World Press Photo Foundation has announced the results of its 63rd annual World Press Photo Contest, with a striking image captured during a blackout in Khartoum, Sudan, Straight Voice by Japanese photographer Yasuyoshi Chiba, selected as Photo of the Year.
Straight Voice © Yasuyoshi Chiba, Japan, Agence France-Presse. A young man, illuminated by mobile phones, recites protest poetry while demonstrators chant slogans calling for civilian rule, during a blackout in Khartoum, Sudan, on 19 June 2019. Protests in Sudan began in December 2018 and spread rapidly throughout the country. By April 2019, protesters were staging a sit-in close to army headquarters in the capital Khartoum, and demanding an end to the 30-year rule of dictator Omar al-Bashir. On 11 April, al-Bashir was removed from office in a military coup, and a transitional military government was established. Nearly 74,000 images were submitted by 4,282 photographers. The 44 winners, 30 which are recognized for the first time, hail from 24 countries.
Chiba's winning image was selected from six finalists, the other five of which are below.
Relative Mourns Flight ET 302 Crash Victim, © Mulugeta Ayene, Ethiopia, Associated Press. A relative of a victim of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 plane crash throws dirt in her face as she grieves at the crash site, near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 14 March 2019. Clash with the Police During an Anti-Government Demonstration © Farouk Batiche, Algeria, Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Students scuffle with riot police during an anti-government demonstration in Algiers, Algeria, on 21 May 2019. Awakening © Tomek Kaczor, Poland, for Duży Format, Gazeta Wyborcza. Ewa, a 15-year-old Armenian girl who has recently woken from catatonic state brought on by Resignation Syndrome, sits in a wheelchair, flanked by her parents, in a refugee reception center in Podkowa Leśna, Poland, on 1 June 2019. Injured Kurdish Fighter Receives Hospital Visit. © Ivor Prickett, Ireland, for The New York Times. Ahmed Ibrahim (18), an Syryan Democractic Forces (SDF) fighter badly burned in conflict with Turkish forces, is visited by his girlfriend at a hospital in Al-Hasakah, on 20 October 2019. She had at first been unable to enter the room, as she was horrified by his injuries, but a nurse encouraged her to go in to hold Ahmed’s hand and have a short conversation. CONTEMPORARY ISSUES - FIRST PRIZE, SINGLES. Nothing Personal - the Back Office of War. © Nikita Teryoshin, Russia. A businessman locks away a pair of anti-tank grenade launchers at the end of an exhibition day, at the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 18 February 2019. Closer to home, photographer Adam Ferguson , represented by the New York Times, won the Portraits Stories category, and Matthew Abbott, also represented by the New York Times (see our piece on him from earlier in the year here ), received a second place in Spot News Stories for his series Australia’s Bushfire Crisis.
Finally Sean Davey , represented by Agence Press-France, received a second prize in the Contemporary Issues Singles category for his image Bushfire Evacuation Centre .
PORTRAITS - FIRST PRIZE, STORIES. The Haunted. © Adam Ferguson, Australia, for The New York Times Magazine. As the Islamic State group (IS) retreated from territory around Mosul in northern Iraq, thousands of former IS prisoners were liberated, many in severe states of trauma. Ferguson took posed portraits of displaced Yazidi people and other minorities who had suffered human rights violations perpetrated by IS, in camps for displaced people in northern Iraq. Noora Ali Abbas (60) sits with her grandson Harreth (6) in their tent in Salamiyah IDP Camp 2, Nineveh, Iraq,on 22 April 2019. Noora says Harreth’s father was taken by IS in 2015, but Harreth is stateless and unable to get an Iraqi government ID because the authorities believe his father was an IS fighter. Noora suffers from depression and anxiety and doesn’t like to let Harreth out of her sight. © Adam Ferguson CONTEMPORARY ISSUES - SECOND PRIZE, SINGLES. Bushfire Evacuation Center. © Sean Davey, Australia, for Agence France-Presse. Abigail Ferris (in mask) plays with friends at a temporary evacuation center in Bega, New South Wales, Australia, on 31 December 2019. Abigail and her family had been evacuated from a nearby camping spot during bushfires on New Year’s Eve. SPOT NEWS - SECOND PRIZE, STORIES. Title: Australia’s Bushfire Crisis. © Matthew Abbott, Australia, Panos Pictures, for The New York Times. Aluminum, which melts at 660.3℃, has streamed from a burning car in Conjola Park, a town where bushfires razed more than 89 properties, in New South Wales, Australia, on 31 December 2019. A firefighting helicopter dumps water on a spot fire in Hillville, New South Wales, Australia, on 12 November 2019. © Matthew Abbott, People take refuge on a beach near a caravan park at Lake Conjola, New South Wales, Australia, as fire approaches, on 31 December 2019. © Matthew Abbott, Firefighters attempt to control flames in a burning house, as they threaten nearby properties, in Lake Conjola, New South Wales, Australia, on 31 December 2019. © Matthew Abbott. World Press Photo Story of the Year was awarded to photographer Romain Laurendeau, for his series “Kho, the Genesis of a Revolt,” which also won the Long-Term Projects category. The series of photographs captures the story of Algeria’s youth and how they were able to spark “the largest protest movement in Algeria in decades.”
WINNER: WORLD PRESS PHOTO STORY OF THE YEAR. Kho, the Genesis of a Revolt © Romain Laurendeau, France. An old man sits on a staircase in Bab el-Oued, Algiers, Algeria, on 31 May 2014. Niqabs have become more popular in Bab el-Oued over the past 20 years. A young man gathers an audience as he experiments with a trumpet in the crowded ‘Climat de France’ quarter of Bab el-Oued, Algiers, Algeria, on 8 December 2014. Nobody knows how to play the instrument, but it generates widespread enthusiasm. © Romain Laurendeau Young people watch a football match, screened at the Olympia cinema in Algiers, Algeria, on 16 March 2016. The cinema broadcasts European matches several times a week. © Romain Laurendeau Football fans gather in the street and sing during a match that is taking place behind closed doors due to violence, in Algiers, Algeria, on 22 November 2014. © Romain Laurendeau Ultra fans sing during a football match in the 5 July 1962 Stadium in Algiers, Algeria, on 22 December 2015. After street demonstrations were banned in 2001, football stadiums became places where youth could protest through song. © Romain Laurendeau Friends relax and watch television in their diki, a private space they have created in a converted storeroom, in Bab el-Oued, Algiers, Algeria, on 6 December 2016. Ultras chant insults against the state, the president, generals and the police during the final of the Algerian Cup in Algiers, on 1 May 2016. © Romain Laurendeau A young couple challenges a taboo as they kiss in a public space in Algiers, Algeria, on 8 December 2016. © Romain Laurendeau You can see a selection of other winners and standout images below.
ENVIRONMENT - SECOND PRIZE, SINGLES. Battling the Marsh Fire. © Noah Berger, United States, for Associated Press.Firefighters battle the Marsh Complex Fire, near the town of Brentwood, California, United States, on 3 August. SPORTS - FIRST PRIZE, SINGLES. Kawhi Leonard’s Game 7 Buzzer Beater. © Mark Blinch, Canada, for NBAE. Kawhi Leonard (squatting, center) of the Toronto Raptors watches his game-winning buzzer-beater shot go into the net, while playing against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the 2019 National Basketball Association (NBA) Playoffs, at the Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Canada, on 12 May 2019. LONG-TERM PROJECTS - THIRD PRIZE. Ixil Genocide © Daniele Volpe, Italy. During the 1980s, in the midst of the 1960–1996 Guatemalan Civil War, the state-backed military identified all indigenous Maya peoples as guerilla supporters. The Ixil Maya community, who live near the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes in western Guatemala, were the targets of a genocide operation. The Ixil were subject to systematic rape, forced displacement, starvation and massacre. By 1996, some 7,000 Ixil had been killed. Here, Members of the local community attend an exhumation in Xe'Xuxcap, Guatemala, on 16 April 2013. NATURE - FIRST PRIZE, SINGLES. Final Farewell © Alain Schroeder, Belgium. The body of a month-old orangutan lies on a rescue team’s surgical drape, near the town of Subulussalam, Sumatra, Indonesia. She died soon after being found with her injured mother on a palm oil plantation, on 10 March 2019. ENVIRONMENT - FIRST PRIZE, SINGLES. Polar Bear and her Cub. © Esther Horvath, Hungary, for The New York Times. A polar bear and her cub come close to equipment placed by scientists from Polarstern, a ship that is part of a scientific expedition investigating the consequences of Arctic climate change, in the central Arctic Ocean, on 10 October 2019. All digital storytelling contest winners can be viewed on the World Press Photo homepage .
Winning photographs and multimedia will be on display during year-long worldwide exhibition, although the launch date is currently postponed. Keep an eye on the event calendar if you would like to find out when (and where) it opens.
