Two Aussies named in top 6 for World Press Photo of the Year award

21 April 2018

The winners of one of the world’s pre-eminent contests for photojournalists and documentary photographers, World Press Photo, have recently been announced. For the 61st annual competition, the jury of the 2018 contest selected Venezuelan photographer, Ronald Schemidt’s image as the World Press Photo of the Year. The World Press Photo of the Year honours the photographer whose visual creativity and skills made a picture that captures or represents an event or issue of great journalistic importance in the last year.

The World Press Photo of the Year. © Ronaldo Schemidt. ‘Venezuela Crisis’. May 3, 2017. José Víctor Salazar Balza (28) catches fire amid violent clashes with riot police during a protest against President Nicolás Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela. President Maduro had announced plans to revise Venezuela’s democratic system by forming a constituent assembly to replace the opposition-led National Assembly, in effect consolidating legislative powers for himself. Opposition leaders called for mass protests to demand early presidential elections. Clashes between protesters and the Venezuelan national guard broke out on 3 May, with protesters (many of whom wore hoods, masks or gas masks) lighting fires and hurling stones. Salazar was set alight when the gas tank of a motorbike exploded. He survived the incident with first- and second-degree burns. Commissioned by Agence France Presse.
The World Press Photo of the Year. © Ronaldo Schemidt. ‘Venezuela Crisis’. May 3, 2017. José Víctor Salazar Balza (28) catches fire amid violent clashes with riot police during a protest against President Nicolás Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela. President Maduro had announced plans to revise Venezuela’s democratic system by forming a constituent assembly to replace the opposition-led National Assembly, in effect consolidating legislative powers for himself. Opposition leaders called for mass protests to demand early presidential elections. Clashes between protesters and the Venezuelan national guard broke out on 3 May, with protesters (many of whom wore hoods, masks or gas masks) lighting fires and hurling stones. Salazar was set alight when the gas tank of a motorbike exploded. He survived the incident with first- and second-degree burns. Commissioned by Agence France Presse.

A staff photographer for Agence France-Presse, based in Mexico, Schemidt’s winning image, Venezuela Crisis – which also won first prize in the Spot News Single category, shows José Víctor Salazar Balza (28) on fire amid violent clashes with riot police during a protest against President Nicolás Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela. Salazar was set alight when the gas tank of a motorbike exploded. He survived the incident with first- and second-degree burns.

Magdalena Herrera, director of photography Geo France and chair of the jury, described the image as “a classical photo, but it has an instantaneous energy and dynamic. The colours, the movement, and it’s very well composed, it has strength. I got an instantaneous emotion…”

Boko Haram Strapped Suicide Bombs to Them. Somehow These Teenage Girls Survived. World Press Photo of the Year Nominee. © Adam Ferguson. Aisha (14) stands for a portrait in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. After being kidnapped by Boko Haram, Aisha was assigned a suicide bombing mission, but managed to escape and find help instead of detonating the bombs. Commissioned by The New York Times.
Boko Haram Strapped Suicide Bombs to Them. Somehow These Teenage Girls Survived. World Press Photo of the Year Nominee. © Adam Ferguson. Aisha (14) stands for a portrait in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. After being kidnapped by Boko Haram, Aisha was assigned a suicide bombing mission, but managed to escape and find help instead of detonating the bombs. Commissioned by The New York Times.

The following photographers, were also nominated for the World Press Photo of the Year, including Australia’s very own, Adam Ferguson and Patrick Brown.

  • Rohingya Crisis
    Patrick Brown, Australia, Panos Pictures, for Unicef
  • Boko Haram Strapped Suicide Bombs to Them. Somehow These Teenage Girls Survived. - Aisha, age 14.
    Adam Ferguson, Australia, for The New York Times
  • Witnessing the Immediate Aftermath of an Attack in the Heart of London
    Toby Melville, UK, Reuters
  • The Battle for Mosul - Lined Up for an Aid Distribution
    Ivor Prickett, Ireland, for The New York Times
  • The Battle for Mosul - Young Boy Is Cared for by Iraqi Special Forces Soldiers
    Ivor Prickett, Ireland, for The New York Times
Witnessing the Immediate Aftermath of an Attack in the Heart of London. World Press Photo of the Year Nominee. © Toby Melville. A passerby comforts an injured woman after Khalid Masood drove his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London, UK, killing five and injuring multiple others. Commissioned by Reuters.
Witnessing the Immediate Aftermath of an Attack in the Heart of London. World Press Photo of the Year Nominee. © Toby Melville. A passerby comforts an injured woman after Khalid Masood drove his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London, UK, killing five and injuring multiple others. Commissioned by Reuters.

This year, the contest attracted entries from 4,548 photographers from 125 countries, with 73,044 images submitted. A total of 42 photographers from 22 countries were awarded in eight categories. A group of internationally recognized professionals convened in Amsterdam to judge all entries. The jury is independent, and all entries were presented to them anonymously.

Rohingya Crisis. World Press Photo of the Year Nominee. © Patrick Brown. The bodies of Rohingya refugees are laid out after the boat in which they were attempting to flee Myanmar capsized about eight kilometers off Inani Beach, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Around 100 people were on the boat before it capsized. There were 17 survivors. The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim minority group in Rakhine State, western Myanmar. They number around one million people, but laws passed in the 1980s effectively deprived them of Myanmar citizenship. Violence erupted in Myanmar on 25 August after a faction of Rohingya militants attacked police posts, killing 12 members of the Myanmar security forces. Myanmar authorities, in places supported by groups of Buddhists, launched a crackdown, attacking Rohingya villages and burning houses. Commissioned by Panos Pictures, for UNICEF.
Rohingya Crisis. World Press Photo of the Year Nominee. © Patrick Brown. The bodies of Rohingya refugees are laid out after the boat in which they were attempting to flee Myanmar capsized about eight kilometers off Inani Beach, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Around 100 people were on the boat before it capsized. There were 17 survivors. The Rohingya are a predominantly Muslim minority group in Rakhine State, western Myanmar. They number around one million people, but laws passed in the 1980s effectively deprived them of Myanmar citizenship. Violence erupted in Myanmar on 25 August after a faction of Rohingya militants attacked police posts, killing 12 members of the Myanmar security forces. Myanmar authorities, in places supported by groups of Buddhists, launched a crackdown, attacking Rohingya villages and burning houses.
Commissioned by Panos Pictures, for UNICEF.
The Battle for Mosul. World Press Photo of the Year Nominee. © Ivor Prickett. Civilians who had remained in west Mosul after the battle to take the city line up for aid in the Mamun neighbourhood. Commissioned by The New York Times.
The Battle for Mosul. World Press Photo of the Year Nominee. © Ivor Prickett. Civilians who had remained in west Mosul after the battle to take the city line up for aid in the Mamun neighbourhood.
Commissioned by The New York Times.
The Battle for Mosul. World Press Photo of the Year Nominee. © Ivor Prickett. An unidentified young boy, who was carried out of the last ISIS-controlled area in the Old City by a man suspected of being a militant, is cared for by Iraqi Special Forces soldiers. Commissioned by The New York Times.
The Battle for Mosul. World Press Photo of the Year Nominee. © Ivor Prickett. An unidentified young boy, who was carried out of the last ISIS-controlled area in the Old City by a man suspected of being a militant, is cared for by Iraqi Special Forces soldiers. Commissioned by The New York Times.