Migration

Syrian refugees are the protagonists of the World Press Photo of the Year

A picture taken by the Australian photographer Warren Richardson denouncing the exodus of Syrian refugees has won the 2016 World Press Photo Contest.

A father and his kid trying to cross the barbed wire that serves as material border between two countries, Hungary and Serbia. This is Hope for a New Life, photo taken on 28 August 2015 and winner of the 2016 World Press Photo Contest. Considering that the protagonists of the picture are Syrian, we understand the added value that led the Australian photographer Warren Richardson to be awarded the prize, denouncing the unspeakable conditions migrants – not only Syrians – faced across 2015.

 

Hope for a New Life. World Press Photo of the Year and Spot News, 1st prize singles © Warren Richardson/2016 World Press Photo Contest
Hope for a New Life. World Press Photo of the Year and Spot News, 1st prize singles © Warren Richardson/2016 World Press Photo Contest

 

The winning pictures of the 2016 World Press Photo Contest

The winning photographs of the 59th edition have been announced on 18 February in Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands. The jury of the 2016 World Press Photo Contest, the world’s most important photographic award, was chaired by Francis Kohn, photo director at AFP.

 

The comment of the award-winning Warren Richardson

“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,” said Richardson.

 

“I think it’s a very classical photo, and at the same time it’s timeless,” said Kohn, Chair of the jury, explaining the choice of Richardson.

 

Among pictures, we point out the winning photo of the Nature category: Storm Front on Bondi Beach, taken on 6 November 2015 by Australian Rohan Kelly, featuring black clouds looming over Sydney while numerous people still lie on the beach, fearless.

 

Over 80,000 photographs

The 2016 edition analysed 82,951 photos made by 5,775 photographers from 128 different countries. 41 people from 21 countries were awarded in different categories. The award ceremony will be held in Amsterdam on 22 and 23 April. The photos will be thus exhibited all over the world, in more than a hundred cities in 45 countries, as of 16 April. During the 2015 tour, the award-winning pictures were admired by over 3.5 million people.

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