World Press Photo Contest has selected an image by Pietro Masturzo (Italy) as the World Press Photo of the Year 2009.
© Pietro Masturzo / Via World Press Photo
The Italian freelance photographer won the top prize in the World Press Photo competition Friday with an image of a woman shouting her protest at the results of the Iranian presidential election from a Tehran rooftop at dusk.
The jurors expressed their insights and opinions about the image on the World Press Photo site:
Ayperi Karabuda Ecer (Jury Chair): “The photo shows the beginning of something, the beginning of a huge story. It adds perspectives to news. It touches you both visually and emotionally, and my heart went out to it immediately.”
Guy Tillim (Juror): “The difficulty in photographing conflict situations is one of portraying the parallel lives involved, of people going on with their lives. This picture has made a very good attempt at marrying these two elements, in giving the conflict a context – and that is a holy grail of photography. The photographer does it with a very beautiful image of an Iranian landscape, which would be worth looking at in itself. But it also arouses our curiosity about the woman shouting – incorporating this moment, the importance of this historical event. It represents a very honest and successful attempt at taking forward our vocabulary of showing things.”
Kate Edwards (Juror): “The photo has a powerful sense of atmosphere, tension, fear – but also of quietness and calm, and in this sense was a challenge as a choice. We were looking for an image that drew you in, took you deeper, made you think more – not just about showing what we already know, but something that asks more of us.”
Agence France-Presse swept all three prizes in the Spot News Stories category, with Argentine photographer Walter Astrada taking the first place prize for the second year in a row, this time with photos of violence in Madagascar.
A record setting 101,960 images were submitted by 5,847 photographers representing 128 different nationalities this year. Judges awarded prizes to 63 photographers from 23 countries in one of journalism’s most prestigious photo contests. The jury spent two weeks reviewing a record 101,960 photographs by all the 5,847 photographers from 128 different nations.
Among the AP’s three awards was a third place finish in the Spot News category for American photographer Julie Jacobson’s shot, “fatally wounded Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard is tended to by fellow US Marines,” taken in Helmand province Afghanistan on Aug. 14. The release of the photo over the objections of the soldier’s family led to an emotional debate in the U.S. over whether its publication was important and good reporting or unethical and in poor taste.
The World Press jury also awarded a special mention for a frame grab of an amateur video posted on YouTube during the postelection uprising in Iran. It showed a woman identified as Neda Agha-Soltan lying on the ground after being shot in the chest.
The contest is only open to professional photographers but jury members said it was worthy of note because it “played an essential role in the news reporting of the year worldwide and could not have been made by a professional photographer.”
Spot News Singles
Adam Ferguson, Australia, VII Mentor Program for The New York Times
Afghan woman rushed from the scene of a suicide bombing, Kabul, 15 December
Spot News Stories
Walter Astrada, Argentina, Agence France-Presse
Bloodbath in Madagascar, February
General News Singles
Kent Klich, Sweden
Gaza photo album: Tuzzah, Gaza Strip, 3 March
General News Stories
Marco Vernaschi, Italy, for Pulitzer Center
Guinea Bissau
People In The News Singles
Michele Borzoni, Italy, TerraProject
Riots in Srinagar, Kashmir
People In The News Stories
Pietro Masturzo, Italy
From the rooftops of Tehran, June
Sports Action Singles
Gareth Copley, United Kingdom, Press Association
England’s Jonathan Trott is run out at the fifth Ashes test match, London, 20 August
Sports Action Stories
Donald Miralle, Jr., USA
Ironman World Championships, Hawaii
Sports Features Singles
Robert Gauthier, USA, Los Angeles Times Magazine
Yankee fans try to distract Angels left fielder Juan Rivera, Yankee Stadium, 25 October
Sports Features Stories
Elizabeth Kreutz, USA
Lance Armstrong’s comeback
Contemporary Issues Singles
Pierre-Olivier Deschamps, France, Agence Vu
France Residence: Avenue des Champs Elysées, Paris
Contemporary Issues Stories
Eugene Richards, USA, Reportage by Getty Images for The Sunday Times
Magazine/Paris Match
War Is Personal, USA
Daily Life Singles
Michael Wolf, Germany, Laif
Tokyo subway
Daily Life Stories
Gihan Tubbeh, Peru
Adrian, 13-year old autist
Portraits Singles
Laura Pannack, United Kingdom, Lisa Pritchard Agency for The Guardian
Weekend magazine
Graham, anorexic teenager
Portraits Stories
Roderik Henderson, the Netherlands
In the car
Arts And Entertainment Singles
Malick Sidibé, Mali, for The New York Times Magazine
Fashion portfolio: Prints and the Revolution, Mali
Arts And Entertainment Stories
Kitra Cahana, Canada, Fabrica for Colors
Rainbowland, New Mexico
Nature Singles
Joe Petersburger, Hungary, National Geographic
Hunting kingfisher, Hungary
Nature Stories
Paul Nicklen, Canada, National Geographic
South Georgia, Antarctica
Like
no comments