From moving snapshots to breathtaking landscapes, images from press photographers make the complex events around the world even more visible. The most spectacular of these are honored during the World Press Photo Award. This year’s winning image shows the sadness in the Gaza war.
The photo of a grieving Palestinian woman holding her dead five-year-old niece wrapped in a white cloth has won the prestigious international photography competition ‘World Press Photo’. The jury announced this on Thursday. Mohammed Salem took the photo for Reuters on October 17, 2023, at a hospital in Khan Younis, where relatives were searching for relatives killed after an Israeli airstrike.
Winning photo “composed with care and respect”
The jury praised Salem’s photo as ‘composed with care and respect’. It offers “simultaneously a metaphorical and literal look at an unimaginable loss.” Jury chairman Fiona Shields praised the great significance of the photo. “It is indescribably moving to watch and at the same time see an argument for peace that is extraordinarily strong, especially when peace sometimes seems like an impossible fantasy.”
The 39-year-old Palestinian photographer Salem received the prize in 2010. He has worked for Reuters since 2003. “I felt the image captured the overall picture of what is happening in Gaza,” Salem said when the photo was first published in November. “People were confused and running from place to place wanting to know what had happened to their loved ones. “I saw a woman holding the little girl’s body and not wanting to let go,” said Salem, whose wife had just given birth the day before the photo was taken.
‘War is personal’ also among winners
Photo Story of the Year is a report by South African Lee-Ann Olwage for the magazine “Geo” about how people with dementia are treated in Madagascar. The jury appreciated the warmth and tenderness in the images. Venezuelan photographer Alejandro Cegara was honored in the long-term projects category for a series on immigration in Mexico. Ukrainian photographer Yulia Kochetova won first prize for her project ‘War is Personal’. According to the jury, her project shows how war affects people personally on a daily basis.
World-Press-Photo director Joumana El Zein Khoury referred to the personal bond between the photographers and their subjects. “This helps them gain a deeper understanding that hopefully leads to empathy and compassion.” She also recalled that many photojournalists have to work at great personal risk and that many journalists died in the Gaza war last year.
The most beautiful photos can also be seen in Vienna
A total of 33 photographers were honored. More than 3,800 participants took part in the competition with more than 61,000 photos. All winning photos will be displayed in an exhibition that can be seen in more than 60 countries worldwide. In Austria, the photos can be seen for a few weeks in the autumn in the Viennese gallery WestLicht.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
