Announcing World Press Photo 2016 Winners

World Press Photo of the Year 2016 goes to Warren Richardson

 

The jury of the 59th annual World Press Photo Contest has selected an image by Australian photographer, Warren Richardson, as World Press Photo of the Year 2016.

“Hope for New Life” is a breathtaking insight, epitomizing the human drama of the ongoing migrant crisis gripping Europe. It captures the intense moment a young man delicately passes an infant under a razor sharp, barbed wire fence. Shot at the Serbo-Hungarian border, with its subtle black and white tonality, the photograph is an instant icon, a synthesis of the plight and flight of millions fleeing unprecedented horrors.

See the winning images that principally explore war zone conflicts, and natural- and man-made disasters, from across the globe. While the powerful glory of nature and daily life find their place in this year’s contest, human drama is the most prevelent theme in near every category. The awarded photographs shine an intense light on well- to lesser known issues that range from the Syrian conflict, to bombs in the mountains of Sudan, from pollution and disaster in China to the blood covered streets of South America.

 

Official World Press Photo press release

The World Press Photo of the Year honors 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.

Richardson’s picture–which also won first prize in the Spot News category–shows refugees crossing the border from Serbia into Hungary, near Horgoš (Serbia) and Röszke (Hungary). Taken at night on 28 August 2015, this man and child were part of the movement of people seeking to cross into Hungary before a secure fence on the border was completed.

Richardson is a freelance photographer, currently based in Budapest, Hungary. He explained how the picture was made:

I camped with the refugees for five days on the border. A group of about 200 people arrived, and they moved under the trees along the fence line. They sent women and children, then fathers and elderly men first. I must have been with this crew for about five hours and we played cat and mouse with the police the whole night. I was exhausted by the time I took the picture. It was around three o’clock in the morning and you can’t use a flash while the police are trying to find these people, because I would just give them away. So I had to use the moonlight alone.

Francis Kohn, chair of the general jury, and photo director of Agence France-Presse, said:

Early on we looked at this photo and we knew it was an important one. It had such power because of its simplicity, especially the symbolism of the barbed wire. We thought it had almost everything in there to give a strong visual of what’s happening with the refugees. I think it’s a very classical photo, and at the same time it’s timeless. It portrays a situation, but the way it’s done is classic in the greatest sense of the word.

Other members of the jury also spoke about the winning photograph.

Huang Wen, director of new media development at Xinhua News Agency, said:

It’s a haunting image. You see the anxiousness and the tension in such a mood which is pretty different from those in-your-face images. It’s subtle, and shows the emotion and the real feeling from the deep heart of a father just trying to hand over his baby to the world he was longing to be in. This is really something.

Vaughn Wallace, deputy photo editor Al Jazeera America, said:

This is an incredible image from the refugee crisis of 2015. It’s incredibly powerful visually, but it’s also very nuanced. We’ve seen thousands of images of migrants in every form of their journey, but this image really caught my eye. It causes you to stop and consider the man’s face, consider the child. You see the sharpness of the barbed wire and the hands reaching out from the darkness. This isn’t the end of a journey, but the completion of one stage of a very long future. And so, for me, this had to be the photo of the year.

Lars Boering, managing director of the World Press Photo Foundation, said this year’s contest went smoothly despite the volume of work being considered:

This year we had more photographers and more entries than ever in our contest and we see this as a great support of the industry. As an organization, we are delighted by the outcome this independent jury produced, and ready to present an exhibition of wonderful and powerful imagery to a global audience that can trust what they see. We see that the photographers are as committed as we are to providing accurate and fair images on the world’s most important events and issues. We had a new code of ethics for the photo contest and a transparent and rigorous verification process. This resulted in many more entries being checked, but fewer problems than last year being found. In 10 days we will be releasing a detailed technical report reviewing the verification process, and we will then lead the public conversation on these issues. Today, we celebrate the incredible and important work of all our prizewinners, especially Warren Richardson’s photograph.

2016 Photo Contest in numbers
The 2016 contest drew entries from around the world: 5,775 photographers from 128 countries submitted 82,951 images. The jury gave prizes in eight categories to 41 photographers from 21 countries: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, and the USA. Discover all of the winners and the awarded photos in an image gallery: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo/2016

2016 Photo Contest jury and procedures
A group of 18 internationally recognized professionals in the fields of photojournalism and documentary photography from 16 countries—chaired this year by Francis Kohn—convened in Amsterdam beginning on 1 February to judge all entries.

The jury is independent, and all entries were presented anonymously. A secretary without voting rights safeguards the fairness of the process, which is explained in full here:http://www.worldpressphoto.org/activities/photo-contest/judging

For the full list of jury members and secretaries, please see: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/news/2015-11-12/world-press-photo-foundation-announces-2016-photo-contest-chair-and-jury

The World Press Photo Foundation will release a technical report reviewing the contest, including the code of ethics, entry rules, and verification process on Monday, 29 February 2016.

Prizes
The premier award, the World Press Photo of the Year, carries a cash prize of 10,000 euros. In addition, Canon will present the winning photographer with the recently launched Canon EOS-1D X Mark II camera and lens kit. For more information about the prize, please go to: http://www.canon-europe.com/for_home/product_finder/cameras/digital_slr/eos_1dx_mark_ii/

The jury gives first, second and third prizes in all categories. All winners receive a Golden Eye Award, a diploma, and travel plus lodging expenses to attend the Awards Days. The Awards Days are a two-day gathering of industry participants and celebration of the prizewinners held in Amsterdam on 22 and 23 April 2016. For more information about the Awards Days, please go to: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/activities/awards-days

2016 Exhibition
The prize-winning pictures are presented in an exhibition visiting around 100 cities in about 45 countries over the course of the year and seen by more than 3.5 million people worldwide. Thefirst World Press Photo 16 exhibition opens in De Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, on 16 April 2016. For more information about the exhibition in Amsterdam, please go to: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/exhibitions/2016-exhibition/amsterdam

This year’s exhibition displays will be printed on Canon large-format printers and Arizona flatbed printers by Océ, which is part of the Canon Group. Please see the Canon website for further information: http://www.canon-europe.com/