Prestigious price
Prizes awarded for the world press photo 2024
Ruben Soto (r), a migrant from Venezuela, and Rosa Bello, a migrant from Honduras, on the roof of the train known as “The Beast” in Samalayuca. Ruben and Rosa met in Mexico and fell in love on their way to the United States. Photo from Venezuela
© Alejandro Cegarra/The New York Times/Bloomberg/dpa
The best press photos of the past year will be honored at the World Press Photo. More than 3,800 photojournalists took part with over 61,000 photos. Now the best have been honored.
The photo of a young Palestinian woman with a dead child in her arms in the Gaza Strip is the World Press Photo 2024. The jury of the renowned World Press Photo competition awarded the photographer Mohammed Salem first prize in Amsterdam. The Palestinian Salem took the photo for the Reuters news agency on October 17, 2023. “It was a powerful and sad moment that sums up what is happening in the Gaza Strip,” he said. The jury spoke of a moving “glimpse into immeasurable suffering.”
36-year-old Ina Abu Maamar, wearing a blue dress and an ocher headscarf, bends over the body of her niece Saly (5), wrapped in a white sheet. She was together with hers Mother and sister killed when an Israeli rocket hit their home in Khan Yunis.
The jury chairwoman Fiona Shields praised the great significance of the photo. “It is indescribably moving to see and at the same time an argument for peace that is extremely strong, especially when peace sometimes seems like an impossible fantasy.”
Photo story from Madagascar awarded
Photo Story of the Year is a report by South African Lee-Ann Olwage for the magazine “Geo” about how people with dementia are dealt with 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 about immigration in Mexico. Ukrainian photographer Julia Kochetova won first prize for her project “War is Personal.” According to the jury, her project shows how war affects people personally every day.
The director of World-Press-Photo, Joumana El Zein Khoury, referred to the personal connection between the photographers and their subjects. “This helps them give us a deeper understanding that will hopefully lead to empathy and compassion.” She also recalled that many photojournalists have to work at great personal risk and that many journalists were killed in the Gaza war last year.
33 photographers honored
A total of 33 photographers were honored. More than 3,800 took part in the competition with more than 61,000 photos. All winning photos will be featured in an exhibition that can be seen in more than 60 countries worldwide.