Venezuelan protest picture wins World Press Photo Award
April 12, 2018
Venezuelan photographer Ronaldo Schemidt has won on Thursday the esteemed World Photo Press Award for his powerful image of a protester consumed by fire amid violent clashes with riot police during a protest in Caracas, Venezuela in 2017.
Clashes between protesters and the Venezuelan national guard broke out on May 3, 2017, and Salazar was set alight when the gas tank of a motorbike exploded. He survived the incident.
Australian photographer Patrick Brown won in the General News — Singles category for "Rohingya Crisis," his haunting image of the bodies of Rohingya refugees laid out on the ground after the boat in which they were attempting to flee Myanmar capsized off the coast of Bangladesh. Of the roughly 100 people on the boat before it capsized, only 17 survived.
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The World Press Photo of the Year, the world's most coveted photojournalism award, honors photographers who have created timeless images that capture an event or issue of fundamental journalistic importance in the last year.
In 2018, the World Press Photo jury chose six nominees for the main prize, shortlisting as well photos in eight different categories — including a new environment category. Altogether, 42 photographers from 22 countries were selected and of these, 15 have won previous World Press Photo awards, while 27 are being recognized for the first time.
Read more: World Press Photo award winner: Independent journalism is more important than the prize
As with every World Press Photo contest, the jury debates the journalistic aspects of the stories as well as the aesthetic and technical dimensions of the image. Jerome Huffer, head chef of the photography department of the French magazine Paris Match and a member of the jury in 2018, hoped the press photo of the year would combine "the fundamentals of photojournalism with a new way of storytelling." He was not disappointed.
Click through the picture gallery above to view some of the World Press Photo Award winners this year, while the one below features shots from the 2017 awards.