Emotion-charged picture from Sudan uprising wins prestigious World Press Photo award

A photo snapped by a Japanese photographer Yasuyoshi Chiba titled “Straight Voice” from the protests during a massive blackout in support of the civilian rule in Sudan’s Khartoum on June 19, 2019, has reportedly won the acclaimed World Press Photo award. The image featured an emotionally-charged youth reciting poetry while the protesters flashed phone torchlights. The mob, featured in the picture, had gathered when the military toppled long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir during the pro-democracy movement in Sudan.

The picture captured by Chiba, the Chief Photographer for East Africa and the Indian Ocean for French news agency Agence France-Presse, bagged him the first prize in the General News Singles category, according to a news agency report.

 "This moment was the only peaceful group protest I encountered during my stay. I felt their undefeated solidarity like burning embers that remain to flare up again," Chiba said in a statement released by the Amsterdam-based World Press Photo Foundation. Jury chair, Lekgetho Makola, reportedly said that despite having captured the moments of tensed conflict, the photograph "inspires people" and voiced “a sense of hope." Chris McGrath, a photographer for Getty Images and member of the 2020 jury, called the winning photo “just a really beautiful, quiet photograph that summed up all the unrest across the globe of people wanting change.” 

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Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302  crash images

Furthermore, several images captured by Associated Press photographer, Mulugeta Ayene, of family and loved ones grieving at the crash site of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 near Addis Ababa won the prestigious award in the Spot News Stories category. Flight 302 had been the deadliest accident that involved an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft operating Boeing 737 MAX to date. 

“It’s truly an honor to have Associated Press (AP) photographs included among the winners of this year’s World Press Photo contest,” said AP’s Director of Photography, J. David Ake. “And as a former Agence France-Presse (AFP) staff photographer, I would like to offer a tip o’ the hat to Yasuyoshi Chiba for his Photo of the Year” 

Besides, several ‘World Press Photo Story of the Year’ images were shot in Africa, the images compiled by the French photographer Romain Laurendeau. Romain reportedly won for his series of images that were titled “Kho, the Genesis of a Revolt,” that narrated the visual tale of the 2019–2020 Algerian protests, also called Revolution of Smiles or Hirak Movement. The series also won the Long-Term Projects category, according to reports. 

Over 74,000 photo entries were submitted by 4,282 photographers, out of which, 44 winners were declared from at least 24 different countries. The contest was rolled out before the Coronavirus pandemic hit the world, January 14 being the closing date, the organisers told the AP reporters. 

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(With AP Inputs)