TEN OUT OF TEN
The winners of the 61st yearly World Press Photo Contest have been announced, showing the most powerful and most striking photos taken by photojournalists over the past year. The winners were selected from entries from 4 548 photographers from 125 countri
1. FACING OTHER WAY
Alessio Mamo, of Redux Pictures working for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), claimed the second prize in the People Singles category. Mamo writes: Manal, 11, a victim of a missile explosion in Kirkuk, Iraq, wears a mask for several hours a day to protect her face, following extensive plastic surgery at MSF’s reconstructive surgery programme at Al-Mowasah Hospital, Amman, Jordan. Children and adults from Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Gaza who have been badly injured by bombs, car explosions or other accidents live in the hospital with a relative or friend. Manal, who was displaced along with her mother and two brothers, endured severe burns to her face and arms. She had no surgery before coming to Jordan and had difficulty in closing her right eye. After many plastic surgery operations, she now wears her mask to protect her skin.
2. SLEEP TIGHT, MATE
Ami Vitale, working for National Geographic, was awarded the first prize in the Nature Stories category for this series titled ‘Warriors Who Once Feared Elephants Now Protect Them’. Orphaned and abandoned elephant calves are rehabilitated and returned to the wild, at the community-owned Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in northern Kenya. The Reteti sanctuary is part of the Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust, located in the ancestral homeland of the Samburu people. The elephant orphanage was established in 2016 by local Samburus. In the past, local people weren’t much interested in saving elephants, which can be a threat to humans and their property.
3. EASY, LITTLE GUY
Neil Aldridge was awarded the first prize in the Environment Singles category for this image of a young southern white rhinoceros, drugged and blindfolded, about to be released into the wild in Okavango Delta, Botswana, after its relocation from South Africa for protection from poachers. He writes: Southern white rhinos are classified as ‘near threatened’. Rhinoceros horn is highly prized, especially in Vietnam and China, for its perceived medicinal properties, and in places is used as a recreational drug. Horns fetch between €20 000 and €50 000 per kilogram. Poaching in SA rose from 13 rhinos a year in 2007 to 1 215 in 2014, and although these figures have declined slightly since then, losses are still unsustainable. Botswana is saving rhinos from poaching hotspots in SA and re-establishing populations in its own wildlife sanctuaries.
4. PRICE OF WAR
Kevin Frayer, of Getty Images, documented Rohingya refugees fleeing into Bangladesh to escape ethnic cleansing, and was awarded second prize in the General News Stories category for his work. Frayer writes: Attacks on the villages of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and the burning of their homes, led to hundred of thousands of refugees fleeing into Bangladesh on foot or by boat. Many died in the attempt. According to Unicef, more than half of those fleeing were children. In Bangladesh, refugees were housed in existing camps and makeshift settlements. Conditions became critical – basic services came under severe pressure and, according to a Medecins Sans Frontieres’ physician based there, most people lacked clean water, shelter and sanitation, bringing the threat of disease.
5. RIDE ON, SON
Alain Schroeder, working for Reporters, was awarded the first prize in the Sports Stories category for his series on Kid Jockeys in Indonesia. Child jockeys ride bareback, barefoot and with little protective gear on small horses during Maen Jaran horse races on Sumbawa Island, Indonesia. Maen Jaran is a tradition passed on from generation to generation. Once a pastime to celebrate a good harvest, horse racing was transformed into a spectator sport on Sumbawa by the Dutch in the 20th century, to entertain officials. The boys, aged between five and 10, mount their small steeds five to six times a day, reaching speeds of up to 80km/h. Winners receive cash prizes, and participants earn €3.50 to €7 per mount.
6. WHAT A WASTE
Kadir van Lohuizen, working for NOOR Images, claimed the first prize in the Environment Stories category with a series titled ‘Wasteland’. He writes: Humans are producing more waste than ever before. According to research by the World Bank, the world generates 3.5 million tons of solid waste a day, 10 times the amount of a century ago. Rising population numbers and increasing economic prosperity fuel the growth, and as countries become richer, the composition of their waste changes to include more packaging, electronic components and broken appliances, and less organic matter. Landfills and waste dumps are filling up, and the World Economic Forum reports that by 2050 there will be so much plastic floating in the world’s oceans that it will outweigh the fish.
7. BREATHE FOR ME
Reuters photographer Toby Melville found himself near the Westminster Bridge on March 22, when Khalid Masood drove a rented SUV along the sidewalk of Westminster Bridge, near the British Houses of Parliament in central London. Three people were killed instantly, two more died in the days after the attack, and at least 40 were injured. Armed with two knives, Masood left the car and attempted to enter the grounds of parliament, where he fatally stabbed one of the police officers who tried to stop him, before being shot and killed. The series of pictures won the second prize in the Spot News Stories category.
8. TESTOSTERONE
Oliver Scarff, from Agence France-Presse, won the first prize in the Sports Singles category with this image. Here, members of opposing teams, the Up’ards and Down’ards, grapple for the ball during the historic, annual Royal Shrovetide football match in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, the UK. The game is played between hundreds of participants in two eight-hour periods on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. The two teams are determined by which side of the River Henmore players are born: Up’ards are from north of the river; Down’ards, south. Players score goals by tapping the ball three times on millstones set into pillars 5km apart. There are very few rules apart from an historic stipulation that players may not murder their opponents. It is believed to have been played in Ashbourne since the 17th century.
9. NATIONAL BIRD
Corey Arnold captured this bald eagle feasting on meat scraps in the garbage bins of a supermarket in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, the US. The picture won the first prize in the Nature Singles category. Arnold writes: Once close to extinction, the bald eagle has made a massive comeback after concerted conservation efforts. Alaska has a population of about 5 000 people and 500 eagles. Some 350 million kilograms of fish are landed in Dutch Harbor yearly. The birds are attracted by the trawlers, but also feed on garbage and snatch grocery bags from the hands of unsuspecting pedestrians. Locally, the American national bird is known as the ‘Dutch Harbor pigeon’.
10. UNTOUCHABLES
Javier Arcenillas, working for Luz, was awarded the third prize in the Long-Term Projects category. This project describes the fear, anger and impotence of victims amidst the daily terror of street gangs, murder and thievery in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Colombia. The photographer wanted to document the heart of uncontrolled violence in Latin America, and the social and political factors that aggressively reinforce that violence, as well as the determination to end it.